( 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.

Comments

[mucked]

[ he’s describing something of a zero sum game—something to which peg’s no stranger. but she doesn’t push for further details. serge is waking up to his own openness throughout this conversation. and, naturally, it wouldn’t do to emphasize too much or too strongly how much satisfaction she takes from listening.

from pulling out the little, complicated threads of someone else’s life. ]

I understand.

[ —in so much as that so many of her own stories are similarly shared. there are whole parts of her life that she couldn’t explain without also explaining steve’s. happy, painful tangles. ]

But you’ve got my number, now. [ or handle or username or whatever they call it in this strange, new world tech. ] Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you feel like telling more of it.

[ polite and simple. she doesn’t stretch—she doesn’t offer any stories of her own. she wouldn’t rebuff a question, maybe, but she wouldn’t invite one either. ]

[affectueux]

[ it’s not that he’s ashamed of the reality of their past together. the world knew it before serge did—it was he who fell into a web of relationships and histories that his confidence tricked him into taking on headfirst. it’s just that there’s so much to it, and truthfully, describing gilbert to anyone takes careful planning to make sure he doesn’t come out of the illustration completely hated.

gilbert cocteau is both a marvel and a devil. ]

Madame Carter… [ but he seems a little relieved; he smiles, however tired it may be. ] Allow me to take you out sometime, when I look more… presentable. It’s the least I can do.

[ he’s a little noble, with little noble inclinations. the offer to take her to a restaurant is totally innocent. ]

[mucked]

Of course. I’ll be glad to accept the invitation—whenever it comes.

[ given the tempest inside this teacup, she’d expect nothing less than innocence in his offer. he’s young; he’s got parts of his heart strung on his sleeve. the only threat peggy imagines he might pose to her is to her own sentimentality.

to that end, in a softer tone but in perfectly accented french, she adds: ]

À bientôt.

[ it’s nice—pushing past the planet’s common tongue and exercising an old muscle. ]

[affectueux]

[ oh!

serge visibly lights up at her usage of the language. he’s insistent about making sure he doesn’t lose his french here, since he knows when he isn’t speaking it, no matter how easy the native tongue of the prismals seems to come. even if peppering in french, or even the occasional german, sounds unnatural in certain places where habit would make it smooth, he wants to be heard. ]

À bientôt!

[ it’s a happy note to end on, and finally, peggy might get a glimpse of the boy he is when he isn’t being crushed under his own future: joyful and in love. ]