Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-06-26 20:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, h g wells, marguerite blakeney |
Who: Marguerite, Helena and NPC!Christina
What: School’s out, so Helena takes Christina to see Newsies. Because of course.
When: During the run of Newsies
Where: La Miranda Theatre
Warnings: Low
With school being out, Helena had decided to take Christina to a musical as a mother-daughter outing. Especially with a certain date looming, Helena was trying to keep herself focused on the fact that Christina was alive in this life. Though she knew eventually, the broodiness, sleeplessness and everything else that came with the pain from her dreams would take hold as it always did. But for now, it was still far enough away that she could hold onto the light.
So it was enjoying a musical with her daughter, who was already growing up and going through a bit of a growth spurt. She was still shorter than Helena, but she was a little taller than the average height for a girl of her age. Helena was rather certain Christina would end up being taller than her, but only time would tell in that respect.
After the performance, Helena and Christina were hanging around chatting with some people. Helena spotted the red-headed actress that she’d seen make a post about the performances on the network. Which had given her the idea of taking Christina to see it.
“I see one of the stars of the show,” Helena commented to Christina.
“Really?” She asked, as she couldn’t quite see since most people were still taller than her by a wide margin.
“If you would like to say hello, I could guide you over there,” Helena stated, looking down at her daughter who nodded fervently. Smiling, Helena put her arm around Christina’s shoulders and guided her over to where the actress was, but waited to approach until she’d finished her previous conversation before greeting her. “Brilliant performance this evening,” Helena said in greeting.
While Marguerite loved the feeling of being on the stage, she also loved getting to talk to fans after performances as well. Sometimes they were brief interactions but just knowing you made someone’s night, or were able to give them a bright spot to hold onto, or your performance spoke to them was an amazing feeling. Then there were the times when her interactions at the stage door and with those who came to talk to her after had a more lasting impact on her life. Honestly, she just loved the connection that came from it all.
The actress had just finished a conversation when she heard herself addressed and turned to the woman with her daughter and smiled.
“Why thank you.”
“You were absolutely brilliant!” Christina beamed. Her accent, while inherently English like Helena’s, also had American inflections in it, evidence of her having been in America for a few years. Christina also tended to try to mimic her friends’ accents at school. She’d also gotten good at mimicking Harley’s. “I hadn’t seen Newsies before, but that was amazing!!”
Helena chuckled softly at her daughter’s enthusiasm. “It was a wonderful performance all around. I am glad I saw your announcement of it on the network. I was looking for something for my daughter and I to do together to celebrate the end of her school year. This was perfect.” And that was a subtle way of mentioning that she was a Dreamer.
Christina’s enthusiasm was adorable and Marguerite smiled brightly at the girl’s compliment. She well knew how accent inflections could change. She certainly tended to sound more French either after Dreams, when she’d come back from France or when she was especially upset despite having grown up in America.
“Well that is the highest praise I could ever hope to hear, thank you! It is a fun show though, isn’t it?”
Hearing Helena speak up again, Marguerite noted the comment about the network. They really were a small population though she also had advertised so it wasn’t as random to run into someone from it.
“I’m glad that my announcement generated such interest. But seeing a show like this is always a good way to celebrate the end of the year, though I may be a bit biased.”
Christina was rather excitable, and she did enjoy the arts. She herself wasn’t quite geared towards the arts, she tended to be more history and science-oriented, but she enjoyed watching theatre when she had the chance.
“You’re welcome. And it is! It’s really quite a fun and engrossing show. And I like that it’s based on a historical event.”
Helena was content to let her daughter do as much talking as she wanted. She’d certainly judged well that Christina would enjoy this musical. While it was fun, it was also based on a historical event, which added another layer to the story that was being told.
“Biased or not, I always believe a play or musical is an excellent way to celebrate. I do enjoy the arts, though I admit it has been a while since I last had the chance to see a performance.” But Helena was determined to not let so much time pass before she attended another performance. Perhaps she’d find one that she and Harley would enjoy that they could attend together.
Marguerite’s smile widened as Christine kept talking about how engrossing the show was, as well as the fact it was based on historical events.
“Well, many shows are based on historical events. I’ve done a number of them myself. There are also many based on books.”
As for Helena’s comment, she turned her attention to the woman and nodded.
“Hopefully you’ll be able to get out to see more performances. I do try to make sure to advertise the ones I’m involved in so you can always be on the lookout for those.”
“Do you have a favorite show based on historical events or books? Or, well, maybe more like a top five since it’s probably difficult to choose?” Christina was curious on that matter. Ever the curious mind, much like her mother.
Helena smiled. “I certainly shall keep my eye out for such announcements. And pay closer attention to theatre here and in Los Angeles. Though I think it is certain we will come see another show that you are in.” She was already making a list of books and shows to give to Christina to look into based off of this conversation.
“Oh, that is a tough one. I really enjoyed doing Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 about a year and a half ago, which is based off a small portion of War and Peace. It was very innovative in the staging and music.” And not just because that was when she met Percy. “It is a tough question though because I love each show I’ve done for different reasons. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder was quite entertaining and Bandstand also was a good show based on soldiers coming home from WWII.”
Really, favorite questions were always so hard to answer. She put her all into the roles she did and so each was special.
“You definitely should, there are plenty of opportunities here and Los Angeles to see a show.” It was one of the things she loved about the area. She had always wanted to be on Broadway, and she wouldn’t necessarily mind returning, however there was plenty of opportunity here as well.
Christina made note of those shows. It sounded like she would enjoy them. “It must be difficult to name favorites like that. But those all sound really interesting!”
“There are, and I certainly need to make more of an effort to look into it. Especially now that some things have calmed down for me.” Mostly meaning the onslaught of dreams. She hadn’t dreamt anything in a long time, though there would always be some sort of ill-effects from them. And then there was just the obvious of taking advantage of the lulls between the crazy that tended to happen here in Orange County. “I used to attend some shows in the West End in London regularly when I still lived there.”
She’d been to a couple when she’d lived in Paris, but not nearly as many as she would’ve liked.
“It really is. Most of my favorite roles were listed in my mini biography in the playbill if you want other suggestions as well.” Because really, there was no way Marguerite could list all the shows she had been in that she loved.
“Ah yes, there does tend to be a lot that happens here.” Both in terms of dreams and Orange County strangeness. Goodness knew that Marguerite almost was always fighting off some threat in the midst of a performance thanks to the constant invasions.
“I would love to perform on the West End at some point. I actually got the chance to live a dream,” ha, double meaning, “of performing at the Comedie-Francaise a couple years ago.”
“I will most certainly check those out.” Christina was expanding her horizons. Theatre was something she enjoyed, but didn’t know a lot about. But as her mother had always said, trying new things was never a bad thing because it only added to your experience of life. Or something to that effect, sometimes Christina didn’t completely listen to her mother.
“Indeed there does,” Helena nodded. It had seemed like it had been a while since there’d last been an invasion, but she knew it was only a matter of time before something else came along and turned the place upside down. It was part of why she was working on some projects to help keep her home safe during such assaults.
“The Comedie-Francaise has quite the legacy. I am glad that you had the chance to perform there.” Helena knew the theatre, though she’d never been inside of it. However, given that it was located in Paris, she probably never would. The city, while beautiful, had lost all of its appeal to her, and it was a very intense sore spot for her. Then again, when one’s daughter was murdered there in the dreams, that tended to taint a place more than anything else. Also in this life she’d lived in Paris when her ex left her the moment she’d become pregnant.
Daughters rarely always listened to their mothers. It was part of growing up after all. Still, she was glad to see someone who was young and so excited about the theatre. There were many children like her really, especially at a show like Newsies. It was something that she loved to see when she came to the stage door.
“It does have the legacy. When the opportunity arose, I simply had to take it.”
She’d been in New York at the time, but the Dreams had left their impact on her even then. She did understand how places could lose their magic though because of trauma. Even when things worked out either here or in the end, the trauma remained.
Christina had some varied interests, mostly thanks to her mother having varied interests and making it a point to expose Christina to many different things. Science, the arts, history, they all were important, and Helena also felt that the best way to find one’s passion was to try new things until one found it. Of course, sometimes that took a while, and sometimes a person found it right away. But it never hurt to have an understanding of and an interest in various topics.
“But of course. One never turns down such a once in a lifetime opportunity when it is offered.” There were similar opportunities that Helena would never turn down if they came her way.
Sometimes Helena lamented the fact that Paris’ appeal was lost to her, but there were also plenty of other places to visit in the world. Helena was certainly one who would prefer visiting some small town in the middle of nowhere because it had some sort of interesting historical event as opposed to visiting the great capitals of the world. But that was probably more influence from her dreams and having tracked Artifacts down in all corners of the world, and they weren’t always in the large cities either.
There was nothing wrong with having a variety of interests. Marguerite was one of those rare few who seemed to have always known what she wanted to do and pursued it. The fact that she followed a similar path in her dreams just made it seem all the more destined to be. But she’d been an actress long before she had started to dream.
“Exactly. You never know what might have happened if you turned it down.”
Had she not gone to Paris, she wouldn’t have run into Christine and Meg on their holiday and really thought about how she missed Orange County despite its strangeness and may have been involved with something in New York when the call about Great Comet came up and never would have come back or have met Percy.
“Life is peculiar like that.”
“Precisely. Even if an opportunity comes that is not quite what you expect, it could be what you need as opposed to what you want.” Helena had long since learned that what one wanted was not always what they needed. And what one needed tended to crop up in the most unexpected of places.
“That it certainly is. As is this place.” Helena had not foreseen herself ever coming to this part of America to live, but she didn’t quite regret the choice. Orange County had added a lot of emotional and psychological damage to her, but she’d found a balance. Mostly. She still had her triggers that would set her off, but those were to be expected.
“Anyways, we should not take up much more of your time, no doubt you have many others who wish to have a moment of your time. It was a wonderful performance, and I shall keep an eye out for your future endeavours here.”
Nodding, Marguerite could only agree. After all, life was full of opportunities that may not seem as such at first but you still wouldn’t know until you tried and then your life could change. It made life what it was though. So she smiled and nodded.
“I’m glad you both enjoyed the performance. And there will always be others.”
Giving a small wave to Christina as well, Marguerite was then pulled in yet another direction as was often the way of the stage door.