Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in pathways_log, @ 2021-04-03 07:59:00 |
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Despite the fact that Percy liked to go out and enjoy the various entertainment that Las Vegas had to offer, he’d never gone to a burlesque show before. But there was a first time for everything, and he couldn’t help but to be intrigued by it. He’d heard some good things about this one place, so that’s where he decided to go. Perhaps he was a little nervous since he didn’t know what to expect upon arriving there, but he didn’t let it show.
Instead, Percy took in the atmosphere. It was not lost on him that this must have been a bit like what Christian must have felt like in Moulin Rouge! when he’d first entered that place. Though Percy wasn’t here to sell a show that he’d written, he was here to have a nice evening out. He didn’t have much in the way of expectations beyond having a new experience and broadening his horizons.
There was little doubt that his parents might be a little horrified to learn where Percy currently was, and that actually gave him some amusement to think of. He wasn’t one that went out of his way to scandalize his parents, but sometimes their English upper class sensibilities showed and it amused him to poke at them. He’d long since learned that he couldn’t let such upper class sensibilities cloud his vision of the world. Life was uncomfortable, and there were plenty of horrors in it that one should not look away from.
But this place wasn’t one of those places. This place had a vitality to it that he hadn’t quite expected to find. And he rather enjoyed the feel of it.
Following the call back it had been off to her other job and the routine. The one that took up most of her time when she wasn’t in rehearsals or performances. Which meant that she had to put aside the connection and spark she’d felt while reading for Ella. To remember she was Marguerite St. Just, and people don’t fall in love that quickly. It made for a great story but not so much for reality. Oh, making people fall in love with her was part of this job as well but that she never let herself linger on. Which was how it had been a couple of days and she had done her best to not think too much about the instant connection even though she’d gotten the email to say she’d gotten the role. But that was for later. Right now, it was her regular job and waiting for her name to be called to go onto stage.
“From the City of Love to the City of Sin, our very own Chanteuse of Love and Desire. Please welcome Marguerite to the stage.”
And there it was. Making her way to the stage, she could hear the beginnings of the song she and Jaskier had worked on and finally gotten to where she knew the lyrics once more. And given it fit so well?
“Listen to me I have beautiful dreams I can spin you…”
She let the music flow through her, connect with her as she moved about the stage, flirting with the different people within the audience as she playfully teased them with the dance.
Which was when she noticed Percy in the audience. The same Percy she had made sparks fly with at a call back. The same Percy she would now be acting across from in Cinderella. Well, wasn’t that a surprise. She didn’t let it throw her and instead just focused on the moment.
Normally, Percy wouldn’t have chosen to come out to a burlesque show on his own, but his friends had decided he’d needed to come here to celebrate the role he’d just gotten. And, well, he hadn’t been one to say no. It’s not like he was going to make an absolute fool of himself in front of his friends, right?
Well, the original answer to that may have been no. Percy was enjoying himself and starting to get used to the vibe of the place. At least up until he heard the announcement of Marguerite. The name alone stirred something within him. That redheaded woman had been on his mind quite a lot since meeting at callbacks. She’d left an impression on him, and he still didn’t really understand what it was or what he was feeling.
There was a split second where he didn’t think this could possibly be that Marguerite. But then she stepped onto the stage and it was definitely that Marguerite. Percy couldn’t quite take his eyes off of her, though he didn’t want to. He felt a bit like a deer caught in the highlights.
“Hey Blakeney, you’re staring,” one of his friends teased once he realized that Percy was, in fact, staring at Marguerite. He couldn’t quite pull himself together.
If Marguerite knew that Percy was staring, she certainly didn’t let it show. Then again, men stared at her all the time. Occupational hazard if you will. So instead, she just moved on into the second verse of the song.
“Oh is it only in dreams that we find our ideal love, are there lovers with real love? If you know how to feel love show me how…”
Emphasis on certain words, she moved gracefully and teasingly, always in the moment, always knowing the role she was playing. But then she seemed to focus on Percy just as she’d been making eye contact and focusing on others depending where on the stage she was.
“Ah, but my prince if you can’t be as sweet as you seem, I’d rather dream.”
With a wink and a blown kiss towards the man, she moved once more.
“Come and wake me, come be the love I can hold now, storybook love leaves me cold now-” And certainly not because she was barely wearing anything at the moment, just well placed costume pieces, “Show me the way to stop dreaming, there is only one perfect story book ending that is the end of pretending, that is the moment I say love me now!”
And of course the ending would be in French. How could it not? Even as she felt she should be singing a counter melody to others but that wasn’t the case here and so she sold it just as she always did.
As the song finished and she left, Marguerite couldn’t help but briefly look towards where Percy was sitting before she made her way to the dressing room. It was interaction night, meaning she would be back with the others to mingle and dance with that night’s patrons once the performances were all done. So for now? For now it was to the dressing room to get into the corseted bodice with an open skirt for said interaction and wait for the announcement to go back out there.
Now, Percy wasn’t a pervert, and he wasn’t staring at Marguerite because she was wearing next to nothing. He was, in part, shocked to see her here. And of course he wasn’t blind, she was attractive but that wasn’t the real reason he was staring. Watching her sing and dance wasn’t doing anything to help the fact that she’d been stuck in his head since the callback a couple days earlier.
This woman had captured his mind and seemed to be holding it for ransom. And he was finding himself tongue-tied to the point of not being able to thwart the jabs from his friends that noticed he was staring.
Percy wasn’t the blushing sort, but if he was, he might’ve blushed when Marguerite blew him that kiss. Or at least it seemed like she’d been looking at him and not someone behind him. Though as she finished her performance, Percy didn’t want it to end. He liked seeing the way she moved and commanded attention. After all, she commanded his attention rather completely.
Once Marguerite was off-stage, Percy gave his head a little shake, then took a long drink. He wasn’t a lush by any stretch of the imagination, but he really needed a drink after that performance. Or possibly two. At any rate, he attempted to get his wits about him now that Marguerite wasn’t in sight.
Yet even as he watched other performances, Percy was still focused on Marguerite. Yeah, he definitely had it bad.
Galinda was going to have a field day with this information.
Nodding in approval at her outfit, Marguerite went to wait for the cue where those who would then dance with the clientele was given. After all, there was always the illusion that had to be kept, the magic as it were. The atmosphere was just so, which meant that anything could happen at the Diamond Burlesque Club. Oh, it was always safe for the dancers but they had to set themselves above the rest and this was just one way.
And there it was, the announcement - always so full of flourish just as one would expect - and so it was onto the main floor to begin to mingle and talk with those who had come to that evening’s show. To smile and flirt and make at least one person fall in love with her, be their dream and fantasy for the time they were there before the garish light of day brought them all back to reality.
Was part of her wondering if she would end up speaking with or dancing with Percy? Perhaps. Not like they wouldn’t have plenty of time to do so with rehearsals for Cinderella. But he was there and she wasn’t sure what that meant or if she was thinking too much about it. Which wasn’t like her. Not in the slightest. So once more, she pushed the thoughts aside to deal with once she wasn’t working.
Or until he ended up in her path. Whichever came first really.
That was the thing of it, everything created in here was a fantasy, something to give people a break from reality, to forget their troubles for a while. It was nice, and tended to be something everyone needed at some point or other. Though Percy wasn’t here to find distraction, it had been his friends thought it funny to bring him here before he took up the role of a sheltered prince. Irony, really, but Percy wasn’t precisely focused on the irony.
When the dancers returned to mingle and dance, Percy felt quite a bit of what he could only describe as stage fright. He never got stage fright, but there was always some level of anxiety before a performance. But what he felt right now, that he might bump into Marguerite, almost made him terrified. Terrified because he didn’t trust himself to speak eloquently because he couldn’t get a grip on himself.
Percy Blakeney being unable to get a hold of himself was definitely news worthy. He was always armed with words, and carried himself with poise. But now? He was almost anything but what he usually was.
As it was, his friends teased him about going over to Marguerite. Oh they didn’t quite know that she was the Marguerite that Percy would be performing with in Cinderella yet, but they wanted to take advantage of the fact that Percy was so clearly at a loss for what to do. So they did the only mature thing young men could do; they practically pushed Percy into Marguerite’s path. Percy managed to not bump into her, but he did lock eyes with her.
“I, uh,” he stammered a bit. “Hi.” Oh so eloquent, but hey, he got a greeting out of his mouth, at least?
There was an irony to it all, Marguerite was more than aware of that. Who would expect Ella to be dancing in a burlesque club? Singing about storybook love and dreams while wearing barely anything and teasing the audience? Of making them fall in love with an illusion?
Even so, she managed to take a step back as Percy was pushed in her direction, quirking an amused brow at the way he stumbled over his words. Gone was the self assured young man she had met at callbacks. Before her instead a man fumbling for words.
It was….endearing in a way. Another moment of familiarity tugging at the back of her mind that she couldn’t place and thus decided to push aside. True, Topher did stumble over his words with Ella, but this wasn’t a callback where they had a script to follow.
“Hello again.”
So instead, the actress let the amusement linger on her words, eyes sparkling ever so slightly. Percy might be at a loss but well, this was Marguerite’s other job and so she was more than fine and rather intrigued to see how this went or if she’d have to save him from himself.
If Percy could have a moment to collect himself, he could make some sort of semblance of being eloquent. But as it was, he’d been taken by complete surprise to see Marguerite here, let alone performing, and his brain had definitely short circuited. The best that he could hope for was to not appear as though he were just one of the typical guys that seemed to only spend their time lusting after women. Because he definitely wasn’t one of those kinds of men. But the way that a cat had suddenly seized his tongue and run off with it could make it seem that way.
Percy tried to collect himself to say something witty in response, but there was nothing coming. His mind was blank, and he couldn’t make himself snap out of it.
“I, uh, didn’t expect to see you here,” he managed to say. Which was probably plainly obvious.
Yeah, Percy would need to be saved from himself.
Well this was more than slightly amusing. Especially since she knew Percy previously was more than capable of holding a conversation instead of standing like a deer caught in the headlights and stumbling over his words.
And oh, it was plainly obvious. That and it was clear was going to be saved from himself. She would give him one more opening but if he was still stumbling over his words, then she would just lead him to the dance floor.
“Clearly. I do hope it doesn’t ruin your impression of me so that you can’t believe me as Ella now.”
Hopefully leading it back to theatre would help but somehow? Somehow Marguerite doubted it. But she knew how to salvage any situation.
Somewhere in there, Percy was hating how he couldn’t get a grip on himself enough to hold intelligent conversation. Normally, he could easily get a hold of himself, but for some reason right now, he just couldn’t. Even his acting skills couldn’t save him. His brain, for lack of a better explanation, short circuited.
“No. No definitely not.” Okay, he did actually sound coherent with that response, but he really wasn’t. “I think you can make anyone believe you can be anyone. Uh, on stage, I mean. Because you’re a very talented actress.” And then he was tripping over his tongue again. Percy was definitely not eloquent tonight.
He didn’t know what it was about this situation that made him go stupid int he head. Was it Marguerite working in a burlesque club? Was it Marguerite herself? It was hard to know.
It started off so well before he began to once more trip over his words and Marguerite could only shake her head some in amusement. Clearly this was going to be a matter of her having to save Percy from himself and hopefully he would be able to pull himself together. Otherwise it would be a very awkward situation. Well. More so.
So instead, the actress just took his hand with a raised brow, “I think you better shut up and dance with me.”
With that said, Marguerite led Percy to where others had begun to dance, placing his hands where they should be before pulling herself close to let the music overtake them.
It was….she couldn’t quite say. Not as familiar as the waltz which was peculiar because why would a waltz be so familiar. And yet, there was something about being there with Percy. A feeling in the back of her mind that it would work out, that he would find his words. That he just needed the encouragement. A chance to gather his wits.
Percy already knew that the instant he got home, he’d throw himself on his bed and bury his face in a pillow out of abject embarrassment for how he couldn’t pull himself together here. Seriously, this never happened to him. Even if he was caught off-guard by something, he was always able to quickly regain his footing and move on. But this? He felt like he’d been brought to his knees and he couldn’t get up because his legs felt like they were made of rubber.
“Okay,” he managed to respond as Marguerite took his hand and led him over to the dance floor. There may have potentially been a very slight flush to his cheeks as she placed his hands where they were supposed to go. Luckily for him, his legs weren’t actually made of rubber so he did fall into moving to the music. Well, that was after a couple hitches to begin with. For some reason, his body wanted to dance the waltz, or something close to it. He’d never trained in ballroom dancing, yet he felt as though he knew ballroom dances.
It was entirely strange. This felt so natural to him, dancing with Marguerite, and yet he had just met her. Sure, they’d danced together in the callbacks, but this feeling of familiarity was something different. He kept his gaze focused on hers, and it did nothing to restore his faculties to him. Instead, it only seemed to deepen that feeling of familiarity, and it only served to confuse him further.
A response that wasn’t stammered over was a good thing. Admittedly it was only one word, but Marguerite would count it as a win. So instead, she just focused on the music, on the dance. And certainly not the man she had led to the dance floor. For it wasn’t just Percy would was feeling a sense of familiarity that went beyond call backs. A sense that this dance wasn’t the type they would normally do.
Which was absurd. This wasn’t the eighteenth century. Clearly it was brought on by the call backs, by the waltz they had done together that day.
Right?
Or did it tie into how she hadn’t known the lyrics to Storybook as she had so dubbed it as it seemed fitting until Jaskier had helped her with the accompaniment. The tattoo.
But that was absurd. The stuff of stories, two lovers finding one another again throughout time. It certainly wasn’t real life.
Even so. It felt right dancing with Percy. And even if he were still caught up in his head, unable to find the words, Marguerite herself was relaxing. Not as ‘on’ as she would be and instead the enjoyment of genuine.
Percy wasn’t exactly trusting his ability to speak coherently at the current moment. Even though he didn’t know Marguerite, the fact that he took a couple minutes to not say anything wasn’t uncomfortable. Quite the opposite, really, and it only made him even more confused about how Marguerite made him feel. It went deeper than an instant connection and chemistry with a co-star that he’d experienced even before he’d met Marguerite. But it had never felt like this.
And it was that feeling that left him confused as to what to even call this. Was there attraction? Most likely, but this wasn’t just a physical attraction, it was far more than that.
Even though this was an oddly comfortable dance, Percy felt that he should say something even if he still felt like a cat had his tongue. It would probably come out poorly, but he did want to at least try and scrape up some of his dignity off the floor.
“So, uh, I guess people are probably more chatty than me in these situations.” Yeah, he was still stumbling over his words, but he at least got a coherent thought out? Progress?
There was a lot about this situation that left Marguerite confused. And it was why she wasn’t thinking about it. No. Just focus on the dance and not the calm that came while she was in his arms. The familiarity. The connection that definitely seemed to go deeper than any she had felt with someone she had acted across. Because that was the thing of fairytales and even if her performance was about storybook love. Well….this was real life.
So she had been fine to dance in silence, even if it was far different from how these things usually went. It was a comfortable silence - something else that was strange but would be good for them while rehearsing and performing. So long as Percy could pull himself together.
At least until he finally seemed to find his voice and put together a sentence that was actually coherent. Which just made Marguerite smile some.
“Yes. Usually a bit more chatty.” Really it was amusing given how chatty he had been at callbacks when they were on the break before they were called up to read for Ella and Topher.
Everything was strange at the moment. This connection with Marguerite. The mysterious tattoos appearing. Mystery gifts. And the whole...whatever had happened over Valentine’s Day. If Percy didn’t know better, he’d think that he was dreaming because tattoos didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere. Sure, random gifts could appear, and there was such a thing as love at first sight, but on the huge scale that it had been a couple weeks ago? That was unnatural. It was like this was some weird fairytale, but fairytales weren’t real life.
So he just tried not to think too deeply about all of it. It wasn’t his area of expertise. He’d leave that to the philosophers and whoever else took an interest in figuring out what was going on. He’d simply just try and pull himself together enough to not make a bad impression on Marguerite. Because of course he must be damaging her view of him with this miserable attempt at being social.
Though he chuckled at her response. “I am usually more chatty. It seems that a cat caught my tongue.” Or there was a frog in his throat. Or both.
There were a lot of strange things that had been happening of late in Las Vegas. Marguerite’s own tattoo on the back of her neck was thankfully covered by her hair at the moment. It made it at least a bit easier to not think about it all that much. She also didn’t know how only those who were on the network could see it but it was one of those mysteries that made no sense and she had other things to worry about.
Was he ruining her impression of him? Not particularly. And not just because she felt the connection to him that made no sense. She was used to this world, the world of glitter and little to no clothing and performances and teasing and men being too sure of themselves or completely out of their depth. It was her job to make them feel at ease. So instead she just rubbed his arm reassuringly as they danced.
“I recall from callbacks. But we’re in a bit of a different world right now, non? A world where cats can easily catch tongues.” Some innuendo, but also understanding. It was a delicate balance and yet more truthful when she was speaking with Percy than when she was with a random stranger and she was always having to be on.
Percy liked to think that he was different than the usual men that Marguerite interacted with here. Sure, he was sure of himself, but he wasn’t overly so. And he tried to not be annoying about it. He didn’t need to “mark his territory” or prove he was a man’s man. Percy was just himself. He tended to find being compassionate and genuine went further than trying to be macho about everything. Of course, he’d taken his fair share of knocks for being compassionate and genuine. But he didn’t see the point of having a pissing contest or whatever it was that men who were full of themselves did to prove they were the bigger man.
And even though there was more than one meaning in what Marguerite said, he felt like the temperature in the room spiked again. This was definitely a world that could chew him up and spit him out if he didn’t get a hold of himself well enough. The simple act of having Marguerite in his arms was grounding, but then he’d get caught up in the cycle of her being so close to him and the atmosphere and the shock of her even being here to begin with would send him into a tailspin again.
“Yeah, the setting does have a way of, uh, changing dynamics.” Internally, he was cringing at his inability to completely get a hold of himself. He was definitely just going to go home and bury his head in the proverbial sand in embarrassment after this.
Percy was definitely different from the men she usually interacted with, both here and life in general thanks to St. Cyr. It was why she was much more relaxed than she might otherwise be. She wasn’t having to pretend or act around him. Oh, she was telling herself she was, refusing to acknowledge what was actually happening because that would be dangerous and a mistake. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t there on a subconscious level.
“The setting usually does. It’s all about the atmosphere.”
Again, a comment that could be taken in oh so many ways. There was truth to it because the lobby of a theatre during a break in call backs and a burlesque club were quite different in atmosphere and setting.
Still, she didn’t think much of it, and well...it was rather amusing watching him trip over his words. Adorable in a way. A feeling as if she knew that, enjoyed teasing him to get that reaction pinging the back of her mind which she had to shake off as this was only the second time she had met Percy. So there was no way for her to know such things.
Even Marguerite was different than the other women he interacted with, but he couldn’t actually put his finger on why. This was only the second time he’d met her, so he couldn’t even claim to know her. And yet it felt like he was pulled to her like a magnet. Never before had anyone captured his senses quite like this.
“It is. This is very different from the theatre or even a café.”
So that was probably the most obvious thing, but again his brain wasn’t completely functioning the way he’d like. Percy really felt like he was embarrassing himself, and he could already feel that he’d never live this down. Whether it was from Marguerite herself poking fun at him for it at rehearsals, or if he told Galinda about it, he’d never live this down.
Oh, Percy was definitely never going to live this down. Even so, the very obvious comment simply caused her to smile and laugh some as she bowed her head and nodded.
“Yes, yes I do believe this is quite a different place and feeling than you might get in a theatre or a cafe.”
When was the last time she had genuinely laughed and felt so at ease? Had she ever? Marguerite honestly couldn’t say. Especially in the presence of a man and someone she hadn’t let get through her well defined walls. That was even scarier than the feeling that she knew him. That connection that she kept pushing aside.
Percy internally smacked his head against a wall for the comment he’d made. At least to his credit, he managed to not outwardly cringe about it. It was entirely frustrating to him that he couldn’t quite get himself to hold an actual conversation right now. Normally he could easily roll with these sorts of things and bounce right back. But not this time.
Even as he stumbled over his words and organizing his thoughts, he didn’t miss a beat in dancing with Marguerite. Which was a saving grace. It would’ve been a complete travesty if he fumbled the dance just as badly as he fumbled his words.
“It is still enjoyable, even if I feel like a buffoon,” he admitted a little sheepishly.
Yes, cringing in the moment would definitely have made things all the more awkward. So at least there was that. That and the fact he could continue dancing despite his current inability to string words together that weren’t terribly awkward. So Marguerite just let the music lead them.
“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. And you are hardly a buffoon. A bit out of your depth, yes, but hardly a buffoon. It’s sweet.”
And it was. It was disarming and relaxing and really that had to be what she was feeling. It certainly would make a lot more sense even if it went against all of her own self imposed rules, especially when she was at work.
Perhaps it was his skills as an actor that allowed him to keep the physical reactions to his bumbling to himself, but all things considered he was glad that it wasn’t ruining things. Even though Percy was absolutely mortified internally. He’d just have to reclaim his dignity at a later date.
“I’m glad that you don’t think I’m a buffoon.” And it was sweet, apparently. Well, at least he was sweet and not ruining his standing with Marguerite.
Of course, it would’ve been worse if his dancing faltered, but he could at least keep a beat with his feet and not trample all over Marguerite in the process. That would’ve been embarrassing to the extreme. He might have even died of humiliation on the spot.
Acting skills came in use in many different ways. Whereas for once in her life while she was at work, Marguerite wasn’t acting. Which was something she didn’t quite know what to make sense of and so she wasn’t going to. Not in the moment at least.
“I definitely do not think you are a buffoon.”
If Percy couldn’t keep a beat, she might question how it was he could be an actor but as it were, it didn’t matter. All that mattered right then was the moment the two were in. They (or really she) could deal with the real world later.