Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-12-11 18:06:00 |
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It had been a surreal few months with working on the latest show. Not show. But her dreams, seeing the things she hadn’t in her dreams (some she knew because she and Percy had discussed these things and then ideas based on her other sets of dreams) and having a lot of it done through music? Well, that was something else entirely. Not to mention it took months to get through the majority of these events and now nightly she would relive them for a span of around two hours on top of her current set of dreams. Life was strange like that.
Still, it was opening night and the show had come together wonderfully and there was that post-performance electricity in the air. She was both exhausted (more so than she might be otherwise because of what she had to tap into) but also exhilarated, just as she always was. Curtain call done and everyone heading to the dressing rooms, Marguerite made her way to her own, temporarily forgetting that her boyfriend and brother had been in the audience even as she had the orchid in her dressing room, not thinking about what was revealed. It was simply the post-performance high.
At least until she got to her dressing room, the TV that was set up to show what was happening on stage for cue purposes to know to get in place if she had a long break now showing an empty stage. And… her brother. Oh. Right. Suddenly she was relieved that she wasn’t sharing a dressing room this time.
“Armand, is everything alright?” Because he certainly didn’t look alright.
---
Oh, he wished his sister had been more truthful when he had asked about the play upon coming back home. That would have...no, it probably wouldn’t have stopped him from punching Percy. Maybe. His mind was all alcohol fuddled right now. But it would have been better to know.
“I punched Percy,” he said, hiccuping slightly. Oh, good. He wasn’t slurring his words. That was a remarkable improvement from the last time he’d been drunk. “And you. You you you...you were…” He leaned forward and tried very hard to glare at his sister. “A courtesan,” he finished in a low voice.
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When Armand had asked about the play, it hadn’t even crossed Marguerite’s mind to go more in detail about what was to be expected. She figured that giving him the timeframe would be enough. After all, it wasn’t exactly a hidden fact that she and Percy had been having trouble, Percy with his careless words and Marguerite not understanding. She’d tried to convince Armand to stay in England with her in the Dreams. She hadn’t really considered what it would be like to see it all happen on stage though, a bit too used to the strangeness thanks to rehearsals by that point.
But Armand was drunk and…
“Wait, you punched Percy?” On the one hand, it wasn’t all that shocking. Her emotions and rationale were available on stage for all to see. On the other, when she had tried to convince her brother to stay in England… he had said she had Percy, had defended him as brave and loyal. She may have not been completely forthcoming with the extent of her pain, but she hadn’t been able to hide it either.
But then the second comment which caused the actress to sigh. Right. That. Removing her wig and wig cap, Marguerite took out the pins in her hair that kept it up so that her hair wasn’t pinned to the top of her head.
“Yes, well, we needed the money.” The one thing she had never wanted Armand to learn, one of the reasons it had been so easy for Chauvelin to blackmail her because she knew Percy would likely ask Armand about the rumors…. Well. Okay that was something she probably should have mentioned before Armand saw it. But between the shock of his arrival, then the Grimm invasion, then rehearsals and Armand having his school… it was always easy to find an excuse not to bring it up.
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“Broke his nose, I think,” he said, instinctively shaking his wrist. “Hurt my hand on his nose, at any rate.” He supposed he was just glad he didn’t punch Percy in the actual theatre. His sister hadn’t needed that on her lying lying...well, truth hiding, there was a difference...hands.
He reached over for the very expensive bottle of alcohol he’d gotten and took another sip. “I know. Money was...tight. But...courtesan? You told me it was…” he had some more booze and shut his eyes. Oh, he was so glad they hadn’t actually showed the two of them from the time she was...doing that. But he had enough of an image now with the jerk Chauvelin to need brain bleach. “Theatre stuff,” he finished lamely.
---
Watching Armand, Marguerite sighed and shook her head. “Well, luckily there are healers in this place.” Because that would be hard to explain. Though now she was going to have to check in on her boyfriend after she made sure that Armand didn’t give himself alcohol poisoning. True, she and Percy lived together so that wasn’t too hard but either way.
“How much have you had to drink?”
Yes, she was currently wanting to avoid the entire conversation. It also felt strange to be dressed in a costume version of an outfit she’d received from the Dreams but that was hardly the point. Though bless her brother and his use of more polite terms for what she’d been as a free woman.
“I still did work at the theatre. And once acting became consistent, I stuck with acting alone.” It had never been a complete lie. Just willful leaving out of particular details so her brother wouldn’t worry about her. Though Marguerite was also thankful that her past was only alluded to and spoken about and not shown.
---
“He should keep his broken nose, but you love him, so I guess healing is fine,” Armand grumbled. Prior to tonight he’d liked Percy. Then he saw how he’d treated his sister while he himself had been off in France, and while he knew there was so much to the story, and probably more than was covered in the play, the jerk deserved getting punched for hurting Marguerite.
But she loved Percy. And he was sure Percy loved her. So...he had to let it go. But it had felt really good to break his nose.
He shook the bottle still in his hands and then peered around the label into the bottle. “‘Bout two-thirds,” he said with a shrug, having more and knowing now Marguerite was going to see the damage to his hands. She might kill him, but...he might also deserve it.
Less thinking, more drinking.
He finished it and then gave her a speculative glance. “And the bastard Chauvelin? How does he fit in in…” He spread his arms wide. “Everything? Before theatre stuff? That.”
---
Armand’s comment about how Percy should keep his broken nose was met with an unimpressed look. Yes, not everyone had access to healers, but really. “And we spoke about all of it when Percy dreamt it so that we wouldn’t fall into what happened in the Dreams.” Because that was all that could be done. They had learned from their mistakes in the Dreams and managed not to make them.
At the answer, Marguerite moved to take the bottle only for Armand to finish the entire bottle. And she saw the state of his hand and really wanted to… well, she didn’t know what she wanted to do. This was so much a conversation she had never wanted to have, the alcohol didn’t help and honestly it was hard talking to anyone who was this drunk. Still, she did a quick scan of the dressing room and as there were no other bottles, she at least didn’t need to worry about that and instead grabbed a water bottle and handed it to her brother. He would want it.
“Simply what was said on the bridge. We were briefly lovers,” Oh Armand would not like the current Dreams she was having where he actually worked with the man, “I ended it. Then he blackmailed me to learn where St. Cyr was being hidden away and the rest you know.”
For as much stress and trouble the man had caused, he thankfully hadn’t played any sort of major role in her life prior to the blackmail beyond that brief love affair.
---
He glared when she took his empty bottle of alcohol away and sulked when it was replaced with water. He did not want water. But he knew he needed it. While the bottle had not been large it had been nearly 100 proof, so the fact he wasn’t damn near comatose was good. He was a lightweight, or at least he had been when he was here before.
Truth be told, there had been more nights in Boston where his friends had managed to coax him out for drinks than he would have liked. But he’d decided that was part of the reason to come back, to be around people who understood. He just hadn’t expected to have this kind of reaction to the musical, or his history he’d been kept unaware of for years that Percy knew all about.
He had some of the water and leaned back in the chair, shutting his eyes. Dark was nice. Dark was good. “I should have killed him in France,” he muttered.
---
Armand glaring really did nothing. While they joked all the time about how he often felt like the older sibling, the fact remained that Marguerite was the older sibling and easily held her own. So angry brothers were not at the top of her list of things to be bothered by. Especially right now. Right now she needed to make sure he at least got home once he said his piece and they would move from there.
Grabbing her clothes, Marguerite went behind her changing screen though the muttering did have her poke her head out.
“And when would you have done that?”
Okay. Marguerite probably should frown upon threats of death against Chauvelin but well… she would be happy if she never had to deal with the man again as he continued to bother her in the Dreams. Always similar, always annoying.
“Actually, I don’t think I want to know.”
Shaking her head, Marguerite finished changing behind the screen before coming out.
“Okay, let’s get you home so you can sleep this off.” Armand would be feeling the hangover in the morning. But at least she’d make sure he was home and safe and not trying to get back in his current state.