( video, un: lavieenrose )

[affectueux]

[ maybe it’s insanity. more likely, it’s the combination of the sanguis cycle and his upcoming birthday making him restless and impulsive. he can usually tamp down those urges when things are normal, but he also can’t recall a moment when things have ever been normal in lunatia.

maybe that’s a contributing factor, too. either way, here’s a video of serge—like the cycles before, he’s got little bear features. paws included, even if his hands are off-screen. ]

Er, bonjour. My name is Serge… I’ve cleaned many of your tables at Salon de Marie. [ it gets harder when he’s a bear, but that’s neither here nor there. ] My birthday will be coming up soon, and I—it—

[ he frowns, searching for the words. he should have planned this better, but again. the haste. ]

In my world, I’m set to inherit my family’s estate on my 18th birthday. I’ll be expected to get married and carry on the family name, as I’m the only child of my late father. [ he realizes something, and holds up a hand in brief fluster. ] I’m not saying this to brag! It’s relevant, I promise. I bring it up because there’s—a person. Someone I love. Someone I can neither marry nor produce a child with.

…this is quite heavy, isn’t it? I’ll try to get to the point. When your heart is in conflict with both duty and the expectations of society, what are you supposed to do? What can you do?

Merci, everyone. For your attention.

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« video » un: blaidyyd

[reprising]

[ This certainly sounds familiar. And he has some time, so he decides to reply. ]

Greetings. I hope your situation hasn't had you too troubled. Being in a similar situation of my own prompted me to reply—

[ Too official. He needs to relax. ]

Forgive me. Is the person in question here with you?

[affectueux]

Non.

[ it sounds like he’s holding something back. since he’s already being so honest, he decides to continue without ambiguity. “the person” simply won’t do. ]

No, he isn’t.

[reprising]

I see.

[ After thinking things over once he's listened to it all... ]

Perhaps your decision would have been easier were they present. Being removed from the confines of what is acceptable back home into a world unlike your own would be able to give you a perspective you haven't considered.

What is causing you conflict here, though?

[ video ] un: sparkler

[liberaltus]

I'll preface this by saying I have personal experience to draw from [and then some] you have a few options open to you:

You can do what is expected of you - pretend. Wear fancy clothes, convince everyone around you that your something you're not. Then you can take up your father's position, live in a gilded cage, and desperately hope no one realizes what a fraud you are. You can spend the rest of your life screaming on the inside.

Or you can leave it behind you, decide that honest self is worth more to you than the lie you'll be forced to live.

[affectueux]

[ serge considers it carefully. the problem is that it’s so hard. his aunts, who made his life hell, no longer even live on the estate. he isn’t free from it all and he wouldn’t be if he returned now, but—it’s impossible not to try to justify it. ]

But what if my honest self is wrong? What if he’s just being selfish?

[liberaltus]

And spending your entire life screaming on the inside is the opposite of selfish? Marrying some poor individual and living a life of luxurious despair is the opposite of selfish? Trust me, my parents married because it was arranged for them as well and they resented each other. The coy insults were spectacular especially at parties, they've divided up the estate so they rarely had to be bothered with one another's company. They wanted the same thing for me: marry the girl, take up my father's position in the magisterium, keep everything unsavory locked away. My parents disagreed with my choices and I did not care for theirs either and so I left. It's not easy, it's hardly fun, it takes fortitude to turn your back on family and tradition...but it was either that or be as miserable and dimensionless as my parents. I'm far too clever for that

Video; UN: lan.furen

[noenvy]

[He doesn’t hesitate with an answer, as if it was obvious from the start.]

Elope.

[It was said in a very mater of fact way.]

[affectueux]

[ the man sounds so confident. despite serge’s best efforts to treat this all with gravity, he audibly sighs. ]

We… tried that. But it’s harder than we could have possibly imagined.

[noenvy]

What made it so hard?

[He was genuinly curious.]

Did people hunt you down?

video; un: adler

[disasdeer]

[ He relates a little too hard to this. He comes on camera and he is a deer with an awful lot of wolf features. Happy Sanguis! ]

Well, I think you should do what seems right to you. For some, duty and responsibility is the right thing, but for others it may be the right thing to follow your heart.

[ So -- ]

What do you want to do.

[affectueux]

[ sanguis really hit this one hard. serge’s brow furrows, not from the words at first, but just from the poor deer’s appearance.

the words are not unwise, though. once serge has had his fill of curious investigation, he responds. ]

I want to be with… that person. Yet I know our relationship can’t possibly last. Is it still worth my fleeting happiness now?

video, un: stcethleannfan

[baitless]

...I suppose I'm not surprised to hear that this sort of thing happens in other worlds, but... it saddens me to hear it, even so.

[He sighs a bit.]

Personally, I think it is most crucial for you to determine what you feel is truly important to you, in terms of your beliefs and what you truly want from your future. I know you likely feel a responsibility to your family, but I feel as though acting against what you truly desire will not end terribly well for anyone.

[affectueux]

Seteth…

[ no honorifics or titles. serge must really be down in the dumps. ]

It isn’t only my family I’d be fighting. That’s what makes this so hard… being with me would certainly make life harder for the person I love, and their life is already so hard. I wonder if it isn’t best for everyone if I fall back in line.

video | un: druidic

[arrowroot]

All the kowtowing to "expectations" means nothing in the end if you're so miserable you can't enjoy any of the benefits you could possibly get from it.

I had to decide once to choose between the limited scope of my reach as a soldier and the needs of people I could help if I was my own authority. It was difficult because some part of me always expected to have a higher authority to answer to and going it alone often meant being looked down on by those who had a negative impression of guilds but I honestly don't regret my decision.

I think you should do what's best for you in the long run, not what's going to make others happy.

[affectueux]

What’s best for me is something impossibly selfish. It might even be unattainable… I’m beginning to feel as if I’ll be miserable either way.

[ not because of his love for gilbert, but because of the pervasive awareness that he’ll never be good enough. ]

What if you had chosen the path you’re on now, and in the end, it made things worse for you? Even though you’ve followed your heart…

video » un: mcarter

[mucked]

[ —somehow, serge's question makes her heart ache. he's a stranger to her. equally...she's something of an iron lady, adept at keeping her emotions at bay. but she finds herself drawn to answer.

even when she knows her answer won't hardly be helpful. ]

I think you have to do what's right. [ she sighs, acknowledging with a touch of exasperation that she understands that her advice is hardly actionable. ] Whether that's doing right by your family or doing right by your heart.

[ however... ]

Some of us hardly have the constitution for marriage. There's no shame in that.

[affectueux]

[ it may not be actionable, but something about her phrasing soothes him. it’s the first time he’s been told that what he feels might be what’s right, after all—not simply that he should attempt it in spite of being wrong.

it gives him pause. ]

I’d like to get married. I think it sounds wonderful, with the right person. But that’s an impossible dream with the person I love, and it feels… it feels like no one else will do.

[ even patricia. she deserves more than being second-best. ]

text | un: fantasma

[teaserving]

society fucking sucks
do what you want

[affectueux]

[ ah, thank you, he hadn’t considered that.

having paws means he can’t switch to text, so he frowns sternly in his video response. it doesn’t mean the lax attitude isn’t weirdly appreciated, though. ]

If it were that easy, I wouldn’t have made the post! Doing what I want just made it worse.

video, un: sougo_i7

[koboreta]

[Ah... This hits a little too close to home, and as Sougo turns his video feed on to respond, his brows are already unconsciously furrowed.]

That's a heavy weight to have on your shoulders... I'm sorry that you have to deal with making a decision like that when you're so young.

[Not that he's much older, but still. His voice quiets a little as he continues, slightly more hesitant than before.]

This isn't something I'm used to talking about with strangers, so I'm not really sure where to start. But to be honest, I've dealt with a similar situation... between my family and something I love dearly.

However... I'm not sure if the answer I chose is the one you want to hear, even if I'm grateful for the decision I made. Should I be honest with you?

[affectueux]

Please be honest. If I only wanted answers that I liked, I wouldn’t have asked.

[ despite the burden, he smiles softly—a little sad at the edges, but he wouldn’t be serge if he let his own selfish worries completely consume him. he’ll listen as intently as he would if he were the one being asked for advice. ]

video; un: ozpin

[perspicaciously]

When it comes to such things...what society needs and what you as a person need are both important. After all if you as a person are affected in such a way then society too will feel it.

I believe...doing what your heart and what you feel is right for you is something that you must find balance with alongside your duties. [ Hm. He might sit back in his chair and take a sip of his cocoa before continuing. ]

But neither one is more important than the other and shouldn't made to be. In a way...prioritizing other people's happiness over your own could be detrimental in the long run.

[affectueux]

[ it’s the conclusion to that thought that really gets to him. he wonders if it’s true, even if he’s prioritizing the happiness of the person he loves. he wonders what would be the right choice for gilbert. ]

Who deserves to have their happiness prioritized, in the eyes of God?

video; un: 1stQadrMargaFan

[wearingguess]

[ ...it seems like it'd be super mean to just avoid him over what happened, so titus doesn't! he can't help feeling a bit embarrassed, though. ]

Ah.
Umm...
Hello, Serge.

[affectueux]

[ well, now serge is going to melt into the ground. he immediately forgets about the question he raised, and he blushes. ]

…hello, Titus.