A meme:

[monticello_tj]

1. You have 24 hours alone with me to do whatever you want. Preferably not kill me, but if that's what you so desire... Truth be told though, what would you do in the time given? Anything, like I said. And that means anything from having tea and talking, to anything of a sexual nature

Comments

past!Rachel

[gotbottle]

I'd take you all over Paris and see things with you, just to get your opinion on them. To hear you talk about them and explain them, so that I might learn something.

Friends: Who are your closest friends, and why are you close?
Music: What do you like?
The Future: Do you agree that I should tell you nothing of it?

[monticello_tj]

As for the first, I would say that I am perhaps closest to Mr. John Adams, Mrs. Abigail Adams and Mr. James Madison, though I do not know if you know those names already. The Adamses are very kind, devoted to liberty and wonderful company; you must meet them, if you have not already. Mr. Madison, unfortunately, makes his home on the other side of the Atlantic, but he keeps me quite updated with the political goings-on in the United States.

On the second, Corelli is, of course, my favorite composer, and I am known to have some skill on both the violin and the pianoforte.

And as for the third ... I admit myself uncomfortable with the idea that I influence the future, and even more uncomfortable with the idea that I may attempt to change it on purpose through my actions. Nonetheless, the idea of averting disaster or conflict has not escaped me.

It is a question upon which I must think more, before I give a response.

[gotbottle]

I've heard of your friends. I'd love to meet the Adamses, I think it'd be quite an illuminating experience.

I have to confess I haven't heard of Corelli. I'd be honored and very pleased if you'd indulge me and play something of his for me sometime.

And for the last... It's a difficult situation. Like, all the mov-- uh, literature in my time always said that when people time travel, they mustn't ever reveal the future or they risk changing it, and they shouldn't interfere, or possibly even interact with anyone. But I don't know how much of that is fiction, and how much of that is practical. I thought I'd put the question to you, for your thoughts, and I am perfectly willing to abide by whatever you eventually decide.

[monticello_tj]

Have you? - I suppose that's unsurprising, I have always thought John Adams to be a great man and one of the premiere figures of the Revolution.

Perhaps - and forgive me if this is an unthinkable alternative - that your own future, the one you came from, was caused by your intervention in the past and in turn caused your own entrapment here. May it not all be a cycle, each caused by the other?

[boygeneral]

I'd like to ask you a million questions about working toward liberty, working through a revolution, politics, and what it's all like. But I've no idea how to start.

Friends: Must friends be, as some people insist, confidants as well? Can they not be friends simply through mutual understanding and tolerance of faults?
Love: Is not the freedom and happiness of an entire country more important than supposed love? Should those not take precedence over all other things?
The Past: Do you have any regrets about your political career, m'sieur?

[monticello_tj]

I would rather think that those would be acquaintances, not friends; friends are brought together not just through circumstances but through a bond from soul to soul. When you have a true friend, you cannot help but be confidantes, as you wish to tell whatever you can.

Ah, you say it as one who has never experienced love. Perhaps, objectively, the country will always affect a greater number than any love, but when overtaken by love, such concerns are often set by the wayside. It does yourself little good to save a country and break your own heart.

The third is perhaps a more difficult question. I do have regrets; I think I have done wrong in many arenas. Perhaps my greatest is that of slavery, where I do not think I ever did as much as I could, rather preferring to leave it to later generations.

[boygeneral]

Then one must feel a compulsion to share, if one is to be a friend? I'd always thought that simply a difference in character, some being more willing or compelled to share than others.

But I am not of greater importance than the country, nor is any single man. Ought not we be willing to sacrifice everything, even this supposed holy grail of being in love, for the sake of Patria? If every man is blinded by love into thinking himself the center of the universe, I am glad that I will never feel it.

If everyone leaves things to future generations, nothing is accomplished. It's a good thing to regret.

[monticello_tj]

Oh, indeed - I myself am much more inclined to silence than many of my friends. I would not call it a 'compulsion' as much as a wish. In friendship, you often desire the understanding of your fellows, and conversation and confession may produce such understanding.

You may yet feel it. I have, to a greater or lesser degree, many a time, and my commitment to the principles of liberty did not falter.