@swaniiiisms liked for a starter
Brisk air on the docks signaled change - even more than they typically did for the mess that was Paris. The Seine's placid, if not polluted, waters couldn't signal the direst in the city above it. Riots and rallies flooded the streets like the rising tides - it seemed France was due for another revolution. Another sneeze that the rest of Europe would be dealing with until the smaller states recovered their senses and relented to the powerhouses of England and Austria.
None of that seemed to bother the rats which ran along the ropes of the ships sailing through with their goods, nor those which unloaded them. Legally or otherwise.
"Beatrice, goddamnit, y've gotta move," came the hiss from one such louse, his voice just barely audible above the waves outside, face shining only dimly in the moonlight which shone in through uneven floorboards and portholes.
"Well if y'd not loaded me down with all this it wouldn't be such a damn problem would it?"
"I told ya, Brujon couldn't make it so we needed yeh." He rolled his eyes and began to bargain, as was the bedrock of their marriage.
"Look, if this goes like it ought, you'll get that new material for 'Ponine's dress."
"I'D RUDDY BETTER!" She nearly yelled before recovering herself. Her eyes glowed fury despite their common color, evidently unimpressed with what he had to offer.
"That's the goddamn least I'm after, Pierre Thénardier, I oughta get a new set've pearls after this nonsense!"