Marguerite Blakeney is clearly beyond scruples (blazeinhereyes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-07-30 06:03:00 |
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While it was a rather hot day in Orange County, Mary thought it was best to be outside as much as possible. She made sure to limit her children’s mobile time to only 20 minutes, but they were finding ways to sneak away and send a text message. To whom they were texting was quite beyond her, but she had finally given up, locking up all of the phones and taking them out for a trip to the park. When you were in the shade, it wasn’t so bad. Her cares seemed to have a fun time and she watched them chase each other on the playground.
Her umbrella was next to her on the bench, but closed for now. She would give her arm a rest while the tree’s gave their shade. She looked over when a young woman sat down next to her, the closest thing to a double look crossing her face as her eyes grew wide, recognizing who it was. She only hesitated a moment before she turned towards her.
“Please excuse me, but weren’t you in a recent performance of Newsies?”
Look, Marguerite had gone to school in Ohio which entailed the infamous Ohio Valley weather gambit where you could go through all four seasons in the span of a week. She had been in New York. She was used to humidity and heat and was fine with it. Even in Paris. But when it happened in California? It was something else entirely. Though it was mostly a matter of when she was in Ohio or New York, she was prepared for it. Whenever it happened in California? Not so much.
With Newsies over and the Fleet Week reunion of Bandstand not performing until the end of August, Marguerite was in her no show mode. Which meant keeping on top of her dance classes, voice lessons, acting classes (since there was always something to learn and it was important not to get complacent) as well as spending more of her time at Pimpernel Outreach.
Right now though, it was her lunch break, it was hot and so she had gone to the park near the Outreach for lunch. Sometimes you could get lucky with some wind while sitting in the shade. So with her lunch in hand, Marguerite went to the normal place she would sit. With all the horror in the world, the stories of the women they were helping, it was important to decompress in some way and for her it was lunch outside.
What she hadn’t expected was someone recognizing her. Which not all that difficult, she was one of the more well known stage actresses in Orange County - for those who followed theatre. No matter. Blinking as someone spoke to her, Marguerite looked over and smiled.
“I was actually.”
Mary beamed with excitement when she confirmed she was the actress she had seen. “I had the honor of seeing one of your performances! It was such a fun musical to attend and watch! It looked like so much fun!” Mary wasn’t very familiar with the theatre regimen, but could only imagine the type of work that went into a production of such a design.
Realizing that she may have been a bit over the top in her greeting, she turned down her smile, nodding her head. “I apologize for interrupting your afternoon, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your performance!”
It was always nice seeing people get excited about things, even if it was just recognizing someone. Especially as it seemed that this woman had enjoyed the performance. Marguerite did love when that happened. It was nice to know that the theatre was still appreciated and that a show she put her heart and soul into was well received.
“It really is a fun musical.” Both to watch and perform in. As for the apology, “Oh no, not at all. I have time.” At least for now. She’d need to get back to the Pimpernel Outreach eventually, but right now she was free to talk. “Thank you, though.”
Mary was delighted to hear the young woman had a few moments to spare. She turned to check on her charges before giving Marguerite her full attention. “I’m Mary,” she said, holding her hand out. “It’s a pleasure Ms. Blakeney.” She beamed, wondering if it would be impolite to speak to this young woman about her performances. She seemed to hold such a passion for them, that she surely wouldn’t mind?
“May I ask...how long have you been performing for?”
Shaking the offered hand, Marguerite smiled.
“Nice to meet you, Mary. And really, Marguerite is quite fine.” While she knew that there were some who would err on the side of politeness, Marguerite had always been very live let live long before the dreams. It was simply her nature so she would be remiss if she didn’t at least offer. How it went after? Well, she would go with whatever.
And while the question shouldn’t be such a hard one to answer, Marguerite sat back some in thought.
“Dieu. Well… I want to say it’s been about ten years since I started performing in shows not put on by my school or at camp, however if we include those… I’d have to say fourteen years?” That sounded right. It was hard to remember when she first really got into it but she knew it was around the time she and Armand had been officially adopted and they were no longer being shuffled around in the system.
Mary smiled her thanks as Marguerite offered to call her by her first name. It was always about manners and the proper etiquette for Mary, she would never assume anything different unless given permission to use a first name. It may have seemed a bit old fashion, but there was something personal about sharing your first name with someone else. Many people didn’t seem to understand that nowadays; given the information you could find online, Mary could understand the feeling about calling someone by their surname.
It was an impressive amount of time and it showed on Mary’s face. “That’s fantastic!” she said, smiling at her new friend. “That type of dedication shows you must have a passion for what you do! What was it that got you into acting?”
There was something of a lost way in how casual people could be. Then again, Marguerite had always been more open. She had teased Percy in the dreams for his formidable English ways and how proper he had been. It had all been in good fun and she sometimes still would tease him about it. But it simply was the way they were.
Laughing some, Marguerite nodded.
“I was indeed one of the rare ones who knew what I wanted to do from a young age and never wavered.” Which was often awkward in her final year of high school when her friends’ parents would use her as an example on how her friends should already know what they wanted to declare in terms of their major when really, it was Marguerite who was the odd one out, not her friends who were undecided. That was what university was for most people, figuring that sort of thing out.
“I had always enjoyed watching shows but never really got to perform in any then I took an elective course in high school and well, there was just a feeling of being on stage that I could describe. Just that it felt right. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Of course the fact she was an actress in her dreams, the greatest actress in Europe at that, certainly did add to that and sometimes made her wonder if that was why she took to it in the way she had. There was no life in which Marguerite wasn’t an actress, and she’d gone through five sets of dreams and while there had been many variations - even in which sibling was older - the actress part never changed.
It was a rare thing to watch someone talk about something they were passionate about. Marguerite seemed to be the rare case that they truly loved what they did. Mary loved her nannying job, thinking that she was helping to shape and mold minds at a young age, but Marguerite had the type of job that could do the same in front of thousands of people. Mary was never a very outgoing person so this show of confidence and bravado was equally impressive to her.
“I can only imagine what the feeling is like!” she remarked, giving the girl a smile. “Newsies has wrapped, has it not? Do you have any plans for a new venture or show?”
“It has. As for what I’m up to right now? Besides the volunteer work and helping with my husband’s nonprofit, there’s going to be an abridged version of sorts of Bandstand for Fleet Week at the end of August that we’re putting together. Most of us were in the show last year so it’s more reminding ourselves of the songs and dances and getting used to the shortened version.”
But she loved the show and the music, and she loved the work she did when she wasn’t in rehearsals as well. There was also her work with Natasha but she hadn’t been tapped to do any sort of information gathering lately. So it was theatre and the Pimpernel Outreach.
“Oh yes. My friend was just telling me about Fleet Week! Now we’ll definitely have to stop by and watch the performance!” Mary was delighted to hear as she knew it would be something Laurence would want to see as well. “Although, I must admit, I’m not familiar with the show! I’m guessing from it’s name however, it has to do with a sort of, big band music?” Mary heard a yell from the playground and turned her attention to the children, her eyes scanning to make sure everything was in order.
“Michael, please be careful! I don’t want you wearing a hole in those pants! Please, do stand up and dust yourself off!” She was quite fine with the children enjoying their time, but she wouldn’t have them acting like animals! She turned back to Marguerite, an apologetic look on her face. “I do apologize.”
For as much trouble as the network could bring, it was a good way to promote the shows she was involved with. Though admittedly there was nothing really to state if Mary was talking about a friend who had seen her mention it on the network or not. It was more just her experience and the way people always seemed to run into one another from the network in the most random of places.
“It does, actually. It takes place following WWII with the return of the war vets, who find things aren’t the same as they left. Then there’s a contest to put together a band so the main character, Danny Novitski, decides to put together a band full of men returned from the service and then gets the wife of his friend who died in action, Julia, to join them.”
It was the briefest of descriptions without going into the things unsaid, the dynamics and fine print in the contract and all the complications but that was what the show itself was for. Even the shortened version would get into all of that.
As Mary turned her attention to the children, Marguerite’s gaze followed and she felt a twinge in her heart but she brushed it aside. Some things were simply not meant to be and there was always adoption should she and Percy choose that route.
“Big band, hmm? Sounds delightful! I’m guessing there’s great choreography in it as well!” Mary enjoyed all aspects of the theater, but musicals always held a special place in her heart. They were so creative and lovely, displaying a true artform of talent in song, dance, and acting. Mary held actors in very high esteem.
“I’ll have to make sure to stop by and see it. It would be wonderful to see you perform again!” There was something charming in running into a local actress and having her take some time out of her day to converse with her. If any indication of Marguerite’s discomfort showed, Mary didn’t notice, nor would she have made a comment. Still, she found this young woman’s company adequate and was loathe to leave it. It didn’t seem polite to exchange phone numbers despite her feelings, so she could only hope they could run into each other again the future. With the amount of shows Mary wished to see and the amount Marguerite seemed to be apart of, she had a feeling they may be seeing each other more often than not.