Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in pathways_log, @ 2021-07-15 03:38:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | scarlet pimpernel: marguerite blakeney, scarlet pimpernel: percy blakeney |
Who: Marguerite and Percy
What: Elephant Love Medley Giving into the inevitable
When: Friday, June 4th
Where: Ozdust Ballroom for Cinderella Cast Party
Ratings/Warnings:
Status: Log | Complete
The end of a show was always a time of both high energy from a show well done, as well as the reminder that it was once again time to return to reality. Oh, there were other auditions to be had and shows to possibly be involved with, but that was always uncertain. And reality for Marguerite was…. Well. It was complicated. Complicated and lonely if she were honest about it. There were friendships and people she was reconnecting with from previous foster homes, but at the end of the day…
There were just some things she couldn’t talk about.
Reality also meant remembering that people like her didn’t get happy endings. There may be parallels she’d had with Ella, but her ending? It wasn’t in the cards for Marguerite and she knew that. The three months from the beginning of March to the end of May had been a reprieve. She had felt more at ease and comfortable than she could remember. All because of Percy, the feeling of calm and peace she got familiar to her core. It didn’t help that she was having memories of another life. That the tattoo on the back of her neck continued to grow.
There were similarities but the life she was remembering was a different time entirely.
It didn’t matter though. Because right now she was at a cast party to say goodbye to those who had become family in the time of rehearsals and performances. It would be back to more performances at Diamond until the next show came around. Which meant she had to remind herself to guard her heart. To remember who she was and why she couldn’t let herself get caught up in the fantasy and fairytale that she could feel seeping into heart as if it were that easy.
It wasn’t that easy and she knew it and it was time that she remembered it.
The end of a show was always bittersweet. Bitter because it was almost like a break up of a family and there was no guarantee all the same people would come together again for a future show. Sweet because of a show well done. Of course, not every show was a good one, be it the writing being weak or some of the cast not jiving together or what, but there was always a sense of accomplishment when it came to the cast party after the curtain fell for the final time.
There would be other shows to audition for, other people to meet, but it could sometimes be difficult to say goodbye to a show when Percy came to be really attached to it. And he’d definitely become attached to this show, but perhaps more than that he’d become attached to Marguerite. He enjoyed being around her, and he’d found that he could connect with her without much effort. Was that because it was just how they were? Or was it because of that feeling of familiarity, the memories of another life in another time. Whatever the reason, he seriously hoped that they could still keep in touch.
Well alright, he wanted more than that, he wanted to be with Marguerite. It was as though she’d filled a hole in his life he hadn’t even been aware of existing, and now he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. There was a chance that she’d reject him, but Percy needed to try. He was fairly certain she felt the same about him just from how they interacted with each other, but he knew better than to assume things.
So at the cast party, he’d made some rounds greeting people before he finally worked his way around to Marguerite.
“I can’t believe we’re here at the cast party. It feels like we were just auditioning for the show yesterday.” He stated with a fond smile. And really, it did feel like it had just been yesterday when they’d first gone through auditions.
Marguerite was all too familiar with how it seemed Percy filled a hole that she didn’t know existed. He made sense of all of her chaos and that? That was terrifying. No one should be able to do that. She hadn’t let him in enough yet it was still true. All the more reason she had to remind herself that people like her? They didn’t get happy endings and she should just try and walk away before she got in too deep.
Having already greeted most of the people there, Marguerite was standing off to one side, drink in hand. She couldn’t shake the feeling she was used to such parties. No. Not parties like this - oh she was from here, whenever a show ended. But soirees with the intellectuals of Paris after she had made a name for herself on the stage.
So when Percy joined her, the actress simply smiled some.
“It does, doesn’t it? Then again, shows do have that effect. You put so much work into them, so much of yourself, and then they wrap up and it’s a few months later and you’re left wondering how.”
Parties were definitely Percy’s thing. Not precisely parties like this, but perhaps something a little fancier with all of his friends and a basic who’s-who of London. Except, that wasn’t a lifestyle he’d ever had here. Not even his father had thrown lavish parties while Percy had been growing up. And yet there was a sense that that life was second nature to him in much the same way that being around Marguerite seemed to fill a hole in him that he’d never known was there. Not to mention that niggling feeling like he knew Marguerite.
It almost seemed like a fairytale. The proverbial two souls would always find each other regardless of what life they were in. He wasn’t quite certain that was what was happening, but it would explain some of the odd things he’d remember or the new talents he had that he definitely knew he shouldn’t have.
“As they say, time flies when you are having fun. Even though it is a lot of hard work, it is also fun when you have a cast and crew who get along well.” Percy smiled. He’d been in a couple shows where the cast and crew had not completely jivved with each other. Those were definitely not good experiences.
“The cast and crew getting along certainly helps on that front.” There was always a risk where that ability to get along and gel with one another wasn’t there for a cast or crew in a show, though most of the shows Marguerite had been in were professional so it never impacted the show. No, usually it was more often it was the high school shows where it was more prevalent. A smaller group of people to pull from, always the same people more or less. She supposed it was similar for college shows though as she had never gone to university she really couldn’t say.
Even so, she took a sip of her drink, smiling some over the glass towards her now former co-star.
“So tell me, what do you have in mind to do now?”
After all, there was always that next great audition to be had. It wasn’t like she knew what his intention had been in coming up to her. She might have her suspicions, her ability to read people, but because she was most certainly trying to lock that part away and remind herself such things weren’t in the cards for her, she was just going to ignore the possibility.
It was better for everyone.
Right?
Marguerite was right, the professional productions that Percy had been in, people getting along had never really been a problem. Well, perhaps there’d been a couple cases of individuals being far too full of themselves, but Percy had handled them with dignity and grace. Besides, there’d been plenty of other people to make up for them. It had been the performances he’d been in in school that had been the most problematic.
“Well, I’ll probably go work my other job while looking for other shows to audition for.” Percy replied. Had he mentioned the other job he worked? He doubted it, when would that have come up in conversation? But that was only regarding his professional life, not his personal one.
And, well, he did want to keep Marguerite in his life. He felt like they just fit together, and he knew it wasn’t just from his side. He could tell that Marguerite seemed to be at ease around him. And they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company regardless of whether they were on stage or not.
“Though I’d definitely like to stay in touch with you. If you don’t mind, that is,” he added. He didn’t want to seem creepy or anything by saying that, but he was hopeful that he’d read their interactions well enough to ascertain that they could be friends. Or more than friends, really.
Marguerite had always been good at cutting down those who got too full of themselves. And always in a way that was never quite so obvious until after the fact. It was a gift, though thankfully she hadn’t had to do so with anyone in the cast. There were other places it had come up but that was normal.
“Makes sense, I guess that’s all any of us are really planning.”
True, her other work was at Diamond. But it was better than what St. Cyr would have her do if he could still control her any more than he did just by holding Armand’s schooling in his hands.
Or Percy could say what he just said. He wasn’t wrong. She was at ease around him. Enjoyed his company. Caroline teased her sometimes about it even as Marguerite would brush it off and be flippant on the man beside her. But that was because she had to be.
“Something tells me we are from very different worlds, Percy Blakeney, and I’m not sure they’re meant to cross beyond when we are on stage.”
Says the actress who was just Cinderella, someone who was forced to be the slave of her step family before meeting and falling in love with a handsome prince.
I have my own storybook ending. Six weeks ago, I met a tall and handsome prince, and tonight, he sweeps me away to England, to be married.
The words came unbidden and Marguerite quickly pushed them down because she had no idea what exactly they were referring to but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they meant something more. That this dynamic was familiar and right. And that was dangerous.
Even so, the words she spoke didn’t hold much conviction and were instead just more resigned than anything. A crack in the armor she tried so hard to keep up.
Percy didn’t need to work between shows, but he refused to sit on his family’s money. He preferred making his own way, earning his keep, as it were. Though he was under no illusion that it was because of his family’s money that he’d been able to have an easier life when he’d gotten started in theatre. He didn’t have to struggle to make ends meet before he started getting regularly cast and making money. But even then he’d still taken jobs outside of the theatre to keep him grounded.
Percy Blakeney was definitely not the typical rich kid one might expect him to be.
And yet when Marguerite brushed off the comment about keeping in touch, he didn’t like the thought of not having her in his life. It was kind of frightening and he didn’t quite understand why it was frightening. He wanted to be part of her life outside of being on stage.
“Perhaps we may be, but why would that mean we can’t be part of each other’s lives? I don’t care if we came from different backgrounds. I like being around you.”
So it was not exactly lost on him that this seemed to mirror a very specific scene from Moulin Rouge, and it kind of took everything in him to not break out into song. But if it came down to it, he would start singing it and doing his utmost best to be utterly charming in the process.
Oh, Marguerite could tell that even with his attempts to stay grounded in reality (something he did quite well), that their lives were different. Too different perhaps. She had years of being told repeatedly that she was worth nothing than what men would pay to see her and even as she pushed away, broke free of St. Cyr’s true grasp, those lessons stuck.
She knew what she was. A creature of the underworld.
“Because it always ends in heartbreak.”
And that was probably the most true thing she had ever said to anyone. The cracks were harder to ignore and she knew that she couldn’t keep the armor up if she let herself get swayed by Percy. No matter how desperately she wanted to.
She had to protect her heart. And Percy’s. Why couldn’t he see that?
True their lives were different, but Percy didn’t think they were too different. After all, as the saying went, the heart wanted what the heart wanted. No matter how rational one tried to be, the heart would always do its own thing. And while the mind could temper the heart, it could never control it.
“It doesn’t always end in heartbreak. You never know unless you try.”
While he understood people believing something if they were told it enough, there was also something to be said about not knowing what could happen unless someone tried it. And that saying was true in every facet of life. With no risk came no reward, and why spend life living safely?
“And I take my clothes off for strangers for money.” It wasn’t really something they could just ignore. Percy had already come to Diamond so it wasn’t like he was unaware of that fact. And Marguerite was all too familiar with how jealousy could grow.
As much as she wanted to give into the feelings, to believe things could be different. There were just certain truths she couldn’t ignore. Truths she couldn’t share.
Rubbing her eyes, Marguerite sighed as she looked out the window. Marguerite’s life certainly was not safe. It had stopped being safe when her parents died. She was just trying to survive.
“Believe me, I’m doing you a favor.”
Even as she said it though, she could see how determined Percy was. Could see he wasn’t going to give up, and when she was only resigned to the fact and her heart wasn’t in it? She knew it was only a matter of time before her resolve broke.
“So what if you take your clothes off for money? It doesn’t change how I feel about you, nor should it. Anyone who lets something like that bother them are insecure and don’t deserve the time of day.” Of course, Percy wasn’t blind, he knew it could stir feelings of jealousy, but he wasn’t exactly the jealous type.
Oh he could get caught up in the heat of the moment and in the heat of his emotions, but jealousy didn’t tend to stick to him. He was secure and confident in himself, and when he dated someone, it meant that he trusted them. By now he’d come to know that Marguerite could be flirtatious, but knowing what she did to make a living didn’t put him off one way or the other.
Percy kept his gaze on Marguerite even as she turned hers away. He didn’t completely understand why she was trying so hard to ignore and push away what was so clearly between them. He could guess part of it was fear of getting close to someone, that tended to be a common fear, but he wasn’t going to make assumptions on it.
“I don’t think it’s doing me a favor,” he commented, though there was no judgment in his tone. “We can’t deny the chemistry we have, and I just feel drawn to you. It’s like I’ve known you before, and now I don’t want to be without you in my life.” Percy felt as though Marguerite was the spark of life he had been looking for, but it seemed so cliché to say it out loud.
Percy could say that all he liked, that it didn’t matter what she did for a living when she wasn’t in a show, but there was saying such a thing in the heat of the moment and then having to live with it. She had seen it happen more often than not.
It was unnerving the way it felt like he was staring into her soul, as if he knew the parts of her she kept locked away from everyone. Things he couldn’t know. Unnerving. Exhilarating. And every other dangerous thing she could feel, making it impossible to be able to hold herself back.
“Of course you wouldn’t when you’re caught up in it right now. But this thing we have?” Admittedly it was nothing more than flirtation and an ease she couldn’t explain because it made no sense, the feeling like she knew him beyond what she had gotten to know in the months since they first read opposite one another in a call back…. It was definitely a thing, no matter what Marguerite tried to tell herself, “It’s bound to end. It always does.”
He wasn’t wrong. She was trying to protect herself. Protect him. Because she knew how it ended, how it always ended.
Of course, it was one thing to say it didn’t matter, it was another to live with it, but Percy also wasn’t the typical man. He didn’t look down on people because of what they did for a living, unless it hurt people, but from what he knew of Marguerite, she didn’t hurt people for a living. Nor did she profit off of people’s pain. And even if he had reservations about Marguerite working at the burlesque club, it was more in relation to the men who frequented it. After all, not everyone had manners enough to keep their hands to themselves, especially if alcohol was involved.
But then Percy noticed when Marguerite acknowledged that there was something between them. Perhaps it was silly of him, but he latched onto that. It meant that he wasn’t the only one to feel this, to have this desire to be part of her life outside of sharing the stage together.
“You speak in absolutes, but the only absolute in life is that we all die one day. Why go through life alone and isolated when we have a connection? Why not try and see what we can have instead of spending the rest of our lives wondering what could have been?” To Percy, there was little worse than wondering what could have been. Especially in a situation like this. He didn’t want his interactions with Marguerite to be limited only to when they were in the same production together. He wanted to be part of her life and he wanted her to be part of his life.
There were reasons that there were bouncers at the club. But it wasn’t as if Marguerite weren’t familiar with those who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. Then again, the way in which St. Cyr had used and sold her to ‘earn her and Armand’s keep’, well. There was a lot there. Not that she was exactly keen on sharing that.
But no. Percy was not alone in thinking that there had been a spark there. Marguerite knew that there had been a spark there. That was the problem. And it had been clear that she was simply resolved to the fact that things always ended. It wasn’t like she wanted that. But to protect her heart….
It was funny, in a way. In another life, she was the type to live each day as the last, to jump feet first when her heart was involved. Even the past was similar and yet… She was afraid. She couldn’t say what it was beyond the fear that in the end it would all be the same. Thinking she had something only to find out it was a lie. But the words Percy spoke seemed to wrap around her, seep into her skin, her heart and all she could do was shake her head with a faint smile as she took a sip of her drink.
“You are utterly hopeless…” And yet wasn’t she? Because she ready to give in to Percy as her resolve broke, her voice fond and the barriers she was trying so desperately to keep up coming down.
Marguerite wasn’t wrong. Percy was rather hopeless. He was a hopeless romantic. He would always stand up to fight the good fight, as it were. He well knew that the world was a cold, dark place, but he also believed that there was good in the world, and it was worth it to fight for what he believed in. Some could say that such a faith in love was naive, but Percy wasn’t naive in that regard.
In another life, he followed his heart. While he had a good head on his shoulders, his heart tended to rule him, which wasn’t always a good thing. It got him into trouble and he tended to misinterpret things at times. But by and large, having his heart rule his mind was a positive. It was even a strength at times.
“Yes, I am. A hopeless romantic,” he responded with a smile. He took it as a badge of honor because it was, at least where he was concerned. “So why not take the leap of faith? Neither of us would be alone in taking it.” Sometimes not being alone in taking these sorts of risks was a comfort to know.
And Marguerite felt herself drawn to that hopeless romantic. Oh, she tried to tell herself otherwise. Steel herself. Remind herself. Yet no matter what she told herself, what she was trying to tell Percy, she was just as drawn to him as he was to her. Things were quiet around him in a way they never were. The calm. The peace.
Oh, emotions were always intense but it was a strange calm and one she had been searching for her entire life, even if always said otherwise.
And despite herself, she had to smile in response to his own smile. He made a compelling argument. Or she was tired of denying herself what she wanted. Of being alone when she felt whole when with Percy. So instead, she just closed the distance between them with a slight shake of her head.
“I’m in so much trouble.”
But this was her. Giving in. As she essentially answered the question with a kiss. Because sometimes, words weren’t needed and by that point, words were just her attempt to avoid was felt inevitable. So it was her. Giving in. As if it were as natural as breathing.
It was almost uncanny just how complete he felt when he was around Marguerite. He hadn’t realized that he’d been missing something until he’d met Marguerite. And now he didn’t want to be without it. Not to mention that feeling of that other life, of meeting this magnetic woman and being drawn to her in the same manner. Was it fate that they met here as well? It was hard to say what was behind them meeting here. Whatever it was, he was glad for it.
At her comment, he couldn’t help but to chuckle. But he didn’t have a chance to respond before she kissed him, and he returned the kiss. It was as though they were destined to be together regardless of what life they were in. Things were falling into place, and Percy felt both complete and as though he was just beginning his life. Marguerite set his very soul aflame, and he didn’t want to lose that feeling of being alive.
Though perhaps it was more accurate to say that both of them were in so much trouble. Love was a flame that could burn and cause harm just as much as it could heal. It was simply a matter of learning to navigate the painful parts and not let them tear them apart.