impure_tale

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101

Someone come take this yapping monstrosity from my chambers before I do something I will regret later, and don't let me look at her for another few days.

Theatre Troupe: Double rehearsals tonight. After the first hour expect to rehearse without your copies in hand. Your collective inability to grasp such a simplistic text is nothing short of astounding, and I'm tired of holding your hands. It's laziness, is what it is, and I'll break you of it.

(ooc: Both Pavi and the Abbe have disappeared. The Marquis is two ticks from having a meltdown of Gene Wilder-esque proportions. Feel free to fan the flames.)

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Perhaps, if we get lucky, we'll find it's become a tropical island. Or, more likely, a snow storm. [Still, he nods] Let's find out.

[They make their way up to the main deck. The Marquis, unaccustomed to walking in snow, takes a slower pace once there, slipping once or twice but never losing his footing.] I hope the Admiral decides against winter next year.

[He looks up at the 'sky'] I enjoy it, actually. The change... it's a welcome break from the same old controlled environment. It makes everything feel a bit more... real.

I'm all for a change. I could just do without the ice. [At least it breaks from the general awkward conversation, more because the Marquis is more determined to get to the entrance of the CES without making a fool of himself on top of everything else. When they do come to it, he braces a hand against the wall and takes a moment to collect himself.]

[He looks at the Marquis curiously] Are you alright?

I'm fine. [He says this after a breath.] There's just been a little too much the last couple days, and on top of that the dog has been keeping me on my feet a little more than I'm accustomed to. [He holds up the hand upon which he wears his ring.] Shall we then? [He holds it to the lock in the door; there is an audible click, and then he opens it.]

[He nods, then looked into the doorway, somewhat apprehensively, as he always does when it comes to the CES. West relaxes a little when it appears to be a peaceful countryside scene (and a great deal warmer than the rest of the Barge).]

After you.

[He begins to remove his scarf]

Merci.

[The Marquis steps in and immediately unbuttons the front of his coat, but he doesn't remove it. Another breath -- the air was crisp, but real, and he felt a little better almost instantly. He shuts the door behind them.]

Have you been in here often?

[He smiles and begins to undo his coat as well. It's refreshing to feel like he's back home, on Earth, in some capacity] A handful of times, mostly with Morgan. And yourself?

Once or twice. Seems like the best of places to bring Renate walking, and I've brought Iago here once. [He looks a little thoughtful.] He missed his first port. I didn't expect it to trouble him as much as it did.

Why did he miss it?

He killed Jason Dean. [The Marquis glances at him.] It seems strange, doesn't it? If you take a life back home, you lose yours or you are kept in a cage forever. Even if you do not succeed. Here, it means only a week in a small room.

[He nods] Right. For some reason, I thought you were referring to the last port.

[Then, with a small shrug] Sometimes, you receive a medal for it. But I see your point. Consequences here are never quite as long term as they should be.

Or perhaps the original rules were simply a way of sorting the problem away and ignoring it while people in power moved on to other more important things.

[He thinks for a bit] I couldn't say. I was never on the wrong side of the law back home.

Don't be so sure. You were just never caught. It's my experience is that to have a wrong side and a right side, there must be a dividing line, and the men in power will move it, at will, for the right or wrong person.

I suppose that's a more accurate way of putting it. [He lets out a small, bitter laugh] Simply being in the army was breaking the law.

How do you mean, sparrow?

[His expressions darkens a little] It was against the rules for people like... myself... to serve in the army openly. That's all.

You weren't breaking any real laws so long as you weren't making a spectacle of yourself. That's how it always works. The people of privilege could do as they liked provided nobody heard the truth, loudly proclaimed.

Yes, so long as it was a secret, it was acceptable. [He shrugs a little] I typically tried not to think about it. Here, however... there's so much time to think.

Anyway, I suppose you would know far more than I do, the effects of societal repression.

Edited 2010-01-04 01:44 (UTC)

[The Marquis scoffs.] Repression nothing, Henri. Every rich man that ever bedded a prostitute or paid someone to flog them or fucked their valet never presumed to think such liasons were secret from anyone. It only became a scandal when the courts felt they needed to make an example of somebody.

[He nods, seeing parallels between that and how he, himself, chose to lead] Yes. That's the way of things. Do you think it's really very different here?

Do you think I would stay here if I thought it was the very same?

Where else would you go?

101

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