Chapter 1: Jolie Coquine
Chapter Text
Caravan Palace were sitting in the empty cafe, no one was there except for them. They thought about how it had come to this. It had been six months since Nazi Germany had taken over the south of France, or Vichy France, as it was now known. The takeover had forced Caravan Palace to halt their music for the foreseeable future. Their friend, Django Reinhardt, was now nowhere to be found, they could only hope he was somewhere safe. They looked outside; a sea of German flags covered the buildings all along the street. Nazi symbols adorned the walls as German soldiers marched up the alleyways. It wasn't the country they knew anymore. And now Sonia was about to give them even more bad news.
"It's official," Sonia sighed, looking at the piece of paper she held in her hand, "The Nazi Party wants us to put on a concert for them next week."
A concert? They hadn't played a single note since the invasion. The thought of playing to the Nazis sickened them.
"For the invaders?! Tell then no, Sonia!" Arnaud yelled, "Absolutely not!"
"Yeah," Charles agreed, "Why the hell would we do that?"
"I know, but there'll be consequences if we don't," Sonia said, "I hope you guys realise that."
"There'll be consequences if we betray France as well!" Hugues yelled, "We absolutely cannot do this!"
"It's just a concert..." Sonia muttered.
But it wasn't just a concert. The idea of them performing for the invaders was too much. But then Antoine had another idea. They could use the concert to make a stand.
"Actually," Antoine smiled, "That's perfect. That could be just the cover we need to really stick it to the invaders!"
"Wha, like, resistance work?!" Camille said, shocked.
It was what everyone was thinking. The French Resistance was something that Caravan Palace had been thinking about for some time, and while the honour and pride in the resistance was huge; if caught, the reprisals were great.
"I don't know," Sonia said, looking to the floor, "What could we do? We're just one band."
"If everyone stood up to them we'd be a free country in no time!" Camille said, and everyone agreed. The idea of resisting seemed too good to pass up, this was a perfect opportunity. They wanted to perform an act of resistance, no matter how big or small.
"It's settled!" said Colotis, "We'll do it! Now then, what will we do at this concert that could help this country?"
"That's a good point," Charles said, "It's all very well talking of resisting, we don't even know how we're going to resist yet!"
It was a very good point to make, for something like this to work, it would need to be planned thoroughly. And they hadn't even thought of what they were going to do yet.
"Oh don't you worry," Antoine smiled, sitting back in his chair, "I'll think of something... I always do..."
Chapter 2: Dramophone
Summary:
Django reappears and offers Caravan Palace some help
Chapter Text
Gathering their instruments to prepare for the concert, they noticed a French flag underneath one of the boxes. A rare sight nowadays, usually they only saw the Nazi swastika covering the buildings.
"Quick," Antoine said, "Hide that, don't let them see it."
Sonia picked up the flag and, lifting up one of the floorboards, stuffed it inside. No one could guess where it was now. It was at that moment that they heard a knock on the cafe door.
"I'll get it," Colotis said, opening the door. And there he was. Django Reinhardt.
"Django!" Colotis yelled, "Where the hell have you been!"
"Sorry," Django apologised, "I got caught up in things. Tried to flee the country but they've blocked everything. Now they tell me I've got to put on some sort of concert with you guys."
It was a great relief for them to see Django. However, pleased as they were to see Django again, it also made things more complicated. He would be there at the concert. They would have to explain they were planning something for the concert tomorrow. Something extra special.
"So," Antoine explained, "Tomorrow during the concert, there'll be these tanks, parked outside the cafe."
Antoine pointed to a drawing he had made showing this.
"Ah, yes," Django said, "I see that. But what does this have to do with-"
"And so," Antoine continued, cutting him off, "We're going to perform an act of sabotage."
"Sabotage?" Django said, "Do you guys even have any experience working in the resistance?"
"Well no," Charles admitted, "But-"
"Well that's good," Django smiled, "Because I do."
Luckily for them, Django had been working with the French resistance ever since the invasion. He had a lot of experience with resistance work. Caravan Palace were shocked, they hadn't expected that.
"We were going to get out of the country for the next stage of our plan but it hasn't worked out. But I can make this plan of yours work," Django said, "I really can. Just leave it with me."
"Excellent," Camille said.
With someone on their team who knew how the resistance worked and what to do, they were all set. Surely their plan couldn't fail now. Or could it?
fuckingpieceofshit (Guest) on Chapter 1 Thu 29 Sep 2016 04:48AM UTC
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Caravan the goofy goober (Guest) on Chapter 1 Thu 17 Oct 2024 07:03PM UTC
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