If Ashitaka is careful and clever, and pays a fair amount of attention to detail, he may notice some of the guards have similarly... odd backgrounds. At least two are new, and while they aren't from China, they certainly aren't from around here. There's nothing to confirm it outright, but clearly someone's been poking in at the royals in the same way COST has. At least one soldier, Antoine Colin, seems especially strange. Whenever Ashitaka enters the room, he stops talking and immediately leaves. Most of the other soldiers assume this is because Antoine is afraid of foreigners, but there doesn't seem to be fear or hate in Antoine's eyes.
The soldiers tell stories of how the locksmith leaves in the middle of the night, and sometimes can be seen pacing from the windows. His behavior has changed-- he used to almsot never come by, to the point that, at first, many didn't know they even had a royal locksmith. Now he's here almost daily. And he is so rude.
The men are happy to boast of their political opinions-- their fathers,they say, weren't even allowed to have any. But many have read various books (pamphlets, magazines, newspapers) on politics now, and love discussing them. Several attend Jacobin meetings whenever they can. They say that France was historically a free country-- that's what the ancient word for 'French' means!-- and they wish to return to that time of democracy and freedom. The royals have contributed nothing to France for too long, but expect everything! They talk about the bread shortages, the famine, the loss and the hunger, and how the royals did nothing and didn't care. One man pulls out a very dog-eared copy of a pamphlet he's clearly very fond of, and says Ashitaka can read it. Another fellow just reads one of his favorite magazine issues aloud one night, and everyone crowds around to listen, laughing and cheering him on. It's clearly something they do often, reading magazine issues aloud, arguing, commenting, pretending to be various characters described. It's something very important to all of them.
Except Antoine, who is just never around when Ashitaka is.
no subject
The soldiers tell stories of how the locksmith leaves in the middle of the night, and sometimes can be seen pacing from the windows. His behavior has changed-- he used to almsot never come by, to the point that, at first, many didn't know they even had a royal locksmith. Now he's here almost daily. And he is so rude.
The men are happy to boast of their political opinions-- their fathers,they say, weren't even allowed to have any. But many have read various books (pamphlets, magazines, newspapers) on politics now, and love discussing them. Several attend Jacobin meetings whenever they can. They say that France was historically a free country-- that's what the ancient word for 'French' means!-- and they wish to return to that time of democracy and freedom. The royals have contributed nothing to France for too long, but expect everything! They talk about the bread shortages, the famine, the loss and the hunger, and how the royals did nothing and didn't care. One man pulls out a very dog-eared copy of a pamphlet he's clearly very fond of, and says Ashitaka can read it. Another fellow just reads one of his favorite magazine issues aloud one night, and everyone crowds around to listen, laughing and cheering him on. It's clearly something they do often, reading magazine issues aloud, arguing, commenting, pretending to be various characters described. It's something very important to all of them.
Except Antoine, who is just never around when Ashitaka is.