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Léon Belmont (ex_the_ambas216) wrote in toujoursliberer,
@ 2008-03-28 07:54:00

Entry tags:

ambassadors_ball, leon_belmont

An Invitation to the French Ambassador's Ball
Subject: The Ambassadors Ball
Where: The French Embassy
Who: Léon Belmont, the French Ambassador to the English court
Warnings: none as yet
Open to: All (all players may attend either as invited guests of the ambassador, as servants or guests of those invited, as staff, or as gate-crashers.)

The ballroom of the Embassy was already growing busy, and when Citizen Belmont paused for a moment besides one of the large windows, he could see yet more carriages pulling up outside, wreathed in the mist blowing in from the river.

The quartet had been playing now for a good half an hour, new French tunes as well as those the English favoured. His staff was busy handing out good French wine, and then refilling those glasses when they were drained.

It was going to be a good evening, and not only in the eyes of the party-goers. With some of England’s most prominent aristos on the guest list, and some than some newly arrived French nationals, tonight would be a night of information gathering, of sizing up the opposition, and perhaps even ensuring some of those French escapees were returned to face justice.

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bourgeois_girl
2008-04-21 08:37 pm UTC (link)

Amandine smiled at him, her panic easing and her grin broadening brightly. Even though he did not wear the fine clothes she was used to seeing him with, nor have his wig proudly on his head Amandine found she did not care. She quite preferred him in his natural look, his hair about his face... he was just as handsome as the day she had first met him. He must have missed the life he was used to. How different they were in that sense.

"Non I am not needed. She is her usual drunken self at the minute," she replied, chancing a glance at the very woman in question before she turned her attention back to her husband, looking at him lovingly. "You are sweet. I have missed you today, holed up preparing her lady for the Ball. She took three hours to choose a dress!"

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viveleroi
2008-04-21 08:46 pm UTC (link)

"Indeed, I think I have had a better time scrubbing hooves than your duties in the closet!" He grinned. She looked at home in such simple clothes. Unashamed of baring her neck without jewels, happy to tread on ground in simple shoes. He still felt wary at how ill at ease he was sure he must seem to others. But Amandine was different. Whether dressed as a lady or dressing a lady, she was beautiful.

"I am loathe to keep you here, in such service," he said softly. "Not for my own vanity, but because your hours are long and secluded and I spend my free time thinking of you." He took her hands in his own and sighed. "How much better prepared I would have been if there had been a day without money in my life. Did you know how much it pertains to this life? I was unaware. And now we are working merely for the room and food, much less pennies to put away and save."

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bourgeois_girl
2008-04-21 09:09 pm UTC (link)

Amandine laughed, though she made sure to catch herself in case she was too loud and alerted some of the more esteemed guests to her husband's presence. Spotting a distinct smudge of dirt on his cheek Amandine quickly licked her thumb and wiped it away as he spoke to her. It was typical of her, a habit instilled in her since she was young. Lord knows she had tried not to groom everyone she met, and she had began to grow out of it until she had been forced to do it as her job.

She was saddened when his expression deepened in worry. That was all he did, worry about her and their wellbeing together. Squeezing his fingers in gentle reassurance, Amandine brought one of his hands to her lips and placed a kiss on his skin, rubbing her thumb across.

"We are alive. We are surviving, and we are together. That is all that matters." Another smile crept onto her face, this time mischeivous. "Besides. I have had an offer of a raise, in a different household, for a better woman. She is French."

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viveleroi
2008-04-21 09:21 pm UTC (link)

Olivier's eyes darkened. "French? And she is living here? In luxury?" Had she no loyalty to her own class? He supposed she had been among the first to flee with their fortunes intact. Why should others like Amandine and himself be forced to work, while their countrymen simply moved estates, perhaps losing their lunch over the Channel but nothing more?

"No." He said firmly. "Not a Frenchwoman. It would be a humiliation too great to bear." He was angry now, perhaps angry enough to storm into the crowd and berate the aforementioned Frenchwoman, but the exchange would undoubtedly lead to their capture and removal and finally execution, so he kept his jaw clenched, tongue between his teeth, the pain a reminder to keep his head.

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bourgeois_girl
2008-04-21 10:01 pm UTC (link)

"Olivier I know it is humiliating for you but please promise me you will consider it?" she asked, trying to soothe his temper. She didn't like him when he was angry, all the more when it was because of something she had said. "It is more pay, possibly more freedom. Would you rather see me in stolen moments such as these or more often and when you wished?"

She could not guarantee the woman would allow it but there was a certain air to her that suggested she might.

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viveleroi
2008-04-21 11:27 pm UTC (link)

"No! Absolutely not! You may come from humble beginnings such as these, and be willing to return to them, but do not forget where I have come from," he glared at her. "She and her kind have lent no help to refugees such as ourselves. Why should we work out fingers to the bone when back home we might've dined as equals together? I will not suffer being paid by a former peer. It seems like pity and injustice all at the same time." He crossed his arms, glowering towards the crowd. "Working for her would require you to leave me behind. If more pay is worth that, then fine. Go. I refuse,"

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bourgeois_girl
2008-04-22 08:05 am UTC (link)

At first Amandine was annoyed. His pride and honour was getting in the way of their survival and well-being. She understood his principles but not was not the time to stick by them.

Still - the way he folded his arms and glowered like a toddler was enough to erase her ill temper and broke into a smile. Despite his adamant behaviour he still looked adorable and she could not be mad at him for long. Placing a hand on his arm she leant into him and smiled.

"I will never leave you behind. You saved my life by coming here and I would not repay you in that ill manner."

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viveleroi
2008-04-22 07:20 pm UTC (link)

Principles were all he had left. Money, gone, land, gone, name, gone. What was he to hold dear save his wife and his principles?

"I saved both our lives by coming to this infernal, hellish isle." He responded contemptuously. "Do not think yourself so precious that I would risk all exclusively for you." She was, though, and they both knew it. While Amandine's happiness was not always on Olivier's list of priorities, her general well-being certainly was. He uncrossed his arms and leaned against the pillar, his back to the dancing crowd.

"Perhaps we should inquire of a family who is welcoming to refugees of our ilk. Someone who would not treat us so bad, someone who would at least respect us.

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bourgeois_girl
2008-04-22 08:18 pm UTC (link)

Amandine was stung, and she did not take to being spoken to in such a manner. She retracted her hands and her body completely as he leant back against the pillar, her face becoming stony in expression, the desire to go towards the ball rather than away from it growing steadily stronger.

"I never said you did. All I meant was to tell you that you saved my life by coming to the infernal, hellish Isle, not imply that it was solely for me. Heaven forbid," she added, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "If you wish to enquire to another family by all means be my guest. Your silly little wife will not hinder you further."

With a slight flare of the nostrils Amandine made to turn back to the Ball. How he infuriated her sometimes with his hotheaded displays!

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viveleroi
2008-04-22 08:25 pm UTC (link)

"Then I shall do as you please, inquire elsewhere and leave you to your chambermaid fantasies," he growled at her turned back, stomping off to leave the tense ballroom, but not stomping hard enough to attract attention. She was right between where she'd started and where she'd been married to him; not a serving girl, not a Baroness. Among nice things, but not needed to display pretty things. He had a notion she'd never been truly at ease in the finery he'd bought for her. He needed card games or an apology, whichever came first.

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