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#Post#: 2635--------------------------------------------------
All For Love
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: March 29, 2013, 10:02 pm
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Hello there lovely! It's been forever since I've posted anything
and I feel horrible about it. I'm working on this one and
blaming the lovely Athos for this one. I've always had a bit of
a soft spot for him and now he's pushed Jack away for a rest and
taken over. I can't tell you how many trips to the library I've
made just doing research and checking out various books and not
to mention searching the web. This might be a long one but I can
promise you it'll have adventure, love (both of the courtly and
the romantic kind) and wedding or two. Plus sword fights and
witty banter, haha. I've taken to changing the heroines faces a
bit, I hope you don't mind. :)
Author's Note : *Disclaimer* - Please know that this is a work
of pure fiction. I'm but a humble writer and I don't make a cent
from these works, I just write them for my own and the enjoyment
of others. I do not mean in anyway to infringe upon the famous
individuals/characters that are mentioned within the work. I
only own the original characters unless otherwise stated. If you
would like to post my work please contact me and I will gladly
grant permission as long as my name is mentioned and the
disclaimer (above) is posted along with the piece. I don't bite,
I promise. :-)
HTML http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh628/mcohen3/allforlovetitlebanner_zps752163ae.jpg
HTML http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh628/mcohen3/AllforLove22_zps8fb573aa.jpg
The Characters:
Lady Charlotte "Lottie" Michellene Babinoux - Duchamp - A lady
of the court and daughter of the King's royal surgeon. A
spirited young lady who's fallen head over heels for the young
Gee. Often seen taking in the world and mixing with villagers of
every walk of life and putting a smile on everyone's face.
Lady Margot "Maggie" Baux - A lower ranking lady of the court
and Lady-in-Waiting to Lottie. Daughter of the King's tailor
and the only person to ever call Athos by his first name. Highly
strung on a tight chord, a worrier and natural mother hen when
it comes to her friend the Lady Charlotte as well as the young
Gee.
Marquis Gerard "Gee" Jean-Luc D'Bergeron - A young man of the
court and nephew to the King. A roguish young man who yearns for
a much more simple life with his lady love Lottie. Has a keen
interest in swordsmanship and no interest in the royal crown.
Comte de la Fiere Olivier "Athos" D'Athos-D'Auteville - A young
swordsman and bodyguard to the King's nephew. Son of the King's
highest ranking Musketeer. A man of few words but has a poet's
heart. Also the only person to calm Margot's frazzled nerves.
Summary:
A Marquis and a Lady of the Court are to be wed but not unto
each other, they pine until a plan is hatched by their ever
loyal companions, a dashing swordsman turned bodyguard and a
Lady-In-Waiting to let the two young love birds go off and prove
that love really can move mountains. Every fairy tale starts
with a "Once upon a time." but at what lengths does one go to
keep that fairy tale romance alive?
Theme:
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53QPS3avaf4
The Ladies Attire
HTML http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=77209946
#Post#: 2636--------------------------------------------------
Re: All For Love
DIR By: Wolfy
Date: March 31, 2013, 2:25 pm
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Both banners are wonderful, as is the theme. I haven't heard
that song in such a long time and it's nice to hear it again. I
had no idea it was on the soundtrack of that movie though! :]
also need to watch the movie.. I'm so sorry. I haven't seen that
one! The Man In The Iron Mask was always my favourite growing
up. Your summary - including the snippets of details about the
characters, have me completely hooked already and I need it to
begin as soon as possible, but there's no rush! do take your
time xD the ladies fashion sense.. beautiful, both of them!
#Post#: 2637--------------------------------------------------
Re: All For Love
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: March 31, 2013, 5:18 pm
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Aww thank you so much! I've fallen in love with that song as of
late and constantly end up having it on at some point during the
day. What can I say? The Disney version of the Three Musketeers
will always hold a special place in my heart, and not just
because Kiefer was cast as Athos. My Aunt whom I've very close
to is a bit of a history buff and adored Dumas's works so when
it came out on video (I must have been about 4 or 5 then) we sat
down to watch it and I was hooked. Now, the Man In The Iron
Mask also holds a special place in my heart because it was one
of the second Leo DiCaprio movies my mother actually let me
watch, haha. Aww thank you again, I tried to go for something a
little different with this one and introduce the "cast" if you
will. The must seems to be enjoying himself thus far *knocks on
wood* hopefully he ends up staying for a nice long while. I'm
working away on the first update as well as a second polyvore to
go along on their many up and coming adventures. :D
#Post#: 2638--------------------------------------------------
Re: All For Love
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: April 2, 2013, 5:27 am
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April 1625 (Feast Day of Caradoc) Paris
The spring air was fresh with the scent of baking bread and sun
was pleasantly beating down upon me as I made the usual morning
trek toward the court and my residence for the next two weeks,
the home of Duchamp family. I'd recently relocated to a small
country estate and left well before dawn each morning in order
to be at my place of employment on time. My only request was
that I have two weeks off each month to spend at my own abode
and the Duchamps, bless them had agreed. I had grown up with the
family's youngest and only daughter, the Lady Charlotte and was
her Lady-in-Waiting due to my lower ranking in the court. The
task at hand this morning was to gently awaken the lovely
Lottie, as I'd always called her, and get her ready for her day
of visiting about the town. Lottie, as wonderful, charming, and
sweet as she always was and would continue to be was not a
person of the morning. I crossed myself as I made my way to the
front door of the Duchamp's stately home and said a silent
prayer. Somewhere inside I heard the solid thud of something
rather heavy hitting a wall and the sharp metallic clank of
pewter hitting stone flooring.
"Oh please heavenly Father give me the strength today to
persevere."
I muttered as I knocked on the door and announced my arrival to
the head servant who looked rather frazzled.
"Lady Baux thank heavens you've arrived! Lady Charlotte's having
a terrible time, she's been in a right mood since her Father
broke the news to her just last evening."
I shrugged off my cloak and handed it to him before giving him a
sideways glance.
"What news?"
"The Master was contacted by the Lord Aubertin to set a
betrothal between Lady Charlotte and oldest Lord Aubertin.
They're set to marry within a month's time. I can assure you
that Lady Charlotte didn't take kindly to the news."
Another clatter was heard somewhere within the upstairs bedroom
that belonged to Lottie and my eyes widened. This was most
unexpected and heart wrenching for someone of Lottie's age to go
through. I myself was only two years older than her but had been
betrothed to someone I loved deeply but could only show "courtly
love" to when it was permitted in public, little did anyone know
that we'd been wed since our betrothal union had already been
consummated. Ahh, one must thank the legal loopholes that made
up our time, I know I did. I suppose I was one of the lucky
ones. I shuddered to think what would have happened if it didn't
turn out well.
"Oh dear, well...I'll see what I can do to calm her."
I said as I made my way up the servant's staircase and tried to
calm my already quickly fraying nerves. I hesitantly knocked on
the door and was granted entry as one of the maids came out and
all but threw Lottie's outfit for the day at me and crossed
herself before saying something about Lottie being in a turn of
moods. I steadied myself and took a deep breathe, well, as deep
a breath that anyone wearing their stays could in this
particular situation could and stepped into the normally cheery
bedchamber of my dearest friend. I found her a huddled heap in
her night clothes, her long wavy hair frizzed about at every
angle imaginable, and various things tossed about like a sudden
storm had gone through.
"I will most certainly NOT marry that...that...that...uptight
bloated pigheaded little ferret."
Lottie's lower lip trembled as a signal that she was near tears
again and I attempted to tidy up the room and calm her to the
best of abilities.
"Now, Lottie dear, maybe there's some sort of rational agreement
you can have with your Father? Tell him that there's nothing
between the two of you.."
Lottie started to sob as I bent down beside her and pulled her
in for a hug attempting to hush her. My heart ached for her as
she let out each hitching sob.
"I just want to be happy! Why can't they just let me be happy?!
All I want in this life is Gee and I can't have him, I can never
call him mine and he can never call me his! Oh Maggie, you've no
idea how much this hurts. Why does it pain me so?! Why is love
such a mixed up topsy turvy emotion?"
I smoothed her hair and then looked her in the eye.
"Because it knows no other way. It strengthens the heart and
confuses the mind, Lottie. Even the most rational mind is over
thrown when it comes to matters of the heart."
I passed her a hanky and had her dry her eyes before I helped
her up and sat her down on the edge of her bed. Lottie's eyes
trailed over me and down to the handkerchief I'd given her to
use.
"This isn't your family crest...Maggie whose is this? It looks
familiar."
I went over to Lottie's dressing table and picked her hair brush
and sat down beside her.
"It's the crest of the d'Athos-d'Auteville family and that's all
I'm saying right now, Lottie. We've got to get you straightened
out before you make your appearances today."
I attempted to brush a rather stubborn snarl from Lottie's waist
length curly tresses before she stopped me and looked at me with
wide eyed wonderment.
"Gee's bodyguard is of that family! Oh my word and praise heaven
you're..."
I cut her off as I turned her head the right way around and
quickly brushed through her long tresses and styled her hair
into a long plait before piling it around her head and securing
it with the snood that matched her attire. It was quite true
that my Olivier, also known to the rest of the world simply as
"Athos" rather than his title of Comte de le Fiere was indeed
the bodyguard and watchful eye to young Gee, or as he was
formally known The Marquis Gerard Jean-Luc D'Bergeron, nephew to
our ruler King Louis XIII.
"This isn't about me, Lottie. Now, we'd best have a discussion
with your father after we get back from our rounds about the
court. We've a busy day indeed and it's a feast day upon
everything else."
Lottie let out a sigh as she composed herself and grabbed her
pile of freshly laundered clothes and stepped behind her
changing screen.
"Don't remind me! But I will find out, Maggie. You know how I
am."
Minutes later she reappeared dressed in all her finery and ready
to be cinched into her stays.
"Alright, grab hold of the bed post."
I said as I seized her ties and pulled with all my might. I
silently said a prayer to God that if I ever found out which
imbecile invented the lady's stays I would slit him from navel
to nose in an instant.
"Lottie, my dear, there's nothing to find out. Trust me."
I muttered as I pulled with all my might half wishing I had
Olivier's help in this situation. For he always cinched me in
this past year and a half and would always have ten times more
strength then I ever hoped to gain, no matter how many buckets
of fresh water or loads of laundry I toted to and from the small
country estate we'd now called our home. I felt a color rise in
my cheeks as Lottie looked at me through her hand held looking
glass and gave me a small smile.
"However he is he makes you happy and your happiness shall be my
happiness, Maggie. There's simply no way my Father will allow me
another match. I suppose I'll have to live without my Gee but I
shan’t live without you and your happiness. "
I smiled back at her as I finished tying her stays and smoothed
her hair down a bit before passing her various things for the
day. My heart was breaking for my best friend and there wasn't
anything I could do about it. To me the world in which we were
currently living was a cold, cruel place and it left me quite
unsettled.
The next two weeks were even more heart wrenching as I watched
the usually lovely and lively Lottie waste away into a shell of
her former self. She's refused to eat, to make her rounds in
court, or to even set foot outside her own chambers. She simply
sat at her desk writing letter after letter to Gee or sobbing to
herself when she settled into her bed for the night and thought
I couldn't hear her. Her meeting with her father about the
ongoing betrothal match not being a suitable one for her fell
upon deaf ears. She was blatantly told that it was none of her
concern and that she should be ever so grateful that she had
been chosen by the Aubertin family since they were in such good
standing with both the French and Spanish royal courts. Her
marriage would not be for love but for business and only that
and children that would come from their union would be part of
the business transaction and used merely as pawns to strengthen
the royal courts and family standing. Little did she know I
shed many a tear for her long after she'd cried herself to sleep
and I stayed up to keep vigil over her and attend to my own
business of preparing her correspondence and mending many of her
garments that had been ripped or torn in her increasingly
violent fits of rage. Thankfully over the last two days the
violence had given to just fits of strangled sobs. I'd finally
gotten her to eat and keep something down just this evening and
now she'd slept quite deeply. I must admit I was quite envious
of her deep sleep as I'd not gotten the full amount I'd needed
in quite some time since I'd arrived. I was kept up nights with
many a thought swirling around my mind and my nerves were
quickly fraying. I kept trying to come up with various scenarios
in which I could help her find happiness with her true love but
it all came to the same dismal conclusion, her getting married
to Aubertin and leading a bitter life.
I stifled a yawn as I set down my quill and got up from my
place by the hearth to gently stoke the quickly dieing embers. I
tiptoed over to Lottie's bed and checked to see if she was truly
asleep, covered her again with the quilts she'd wrestled her way
out of and looked out her bedroom window into the back gardens
of the Duchamp's estate. I saw a lone figure leaning against one
of the small fruit trees out and off to the side. A smile
quickly spread across my face as I heard the signal call of a
lonely turtle dove. I snuffed out the candle that was set out on
the window ledge as an answer and slipped quietly from the room
and down the servant's staircase and out into the cook's garden.
In my haste and exhausted state I caught my foot on the root of
a nearby tree and sent myself for a rather painful tumble
straight to Olivier's feet as he looked at me with a mixture of
concern and amusement before helping me up.
"I see I still have the desired effect on you my dear."
Athos said with what could only be described as a purr as I
hastily dusted myself off and looked at him with a slightly
vexed look that soon softened.
"Yes, it seems you do indeed. But please, also factor in my
acute lack of sleep and my fragile nerves for these past two
weeks, Olivier. It seems that our dear Lottie and Gee are not to
be wed."
Olivier nodded sadly as he brushed a hand over my cheek and
caught a few stray tears that had managed to fall as I told him
what Lottie's father had told her.
"Indeed it is a heartbreak, Maggie. It seems that young Gee is
to be married to one of the higher ranking ladies in the
Austrian court in a month's time himself. Something about the
bonding of trade routes or some such thing. He's not taken to
the news well either and has taken to his bed chambers and
refuses to come out, even for me to give him a fencing lesson or
take him on a hunt."
Tears sprang up again into my eyes as I let out a sob as Olivier
wrapped an arm around me and attempted to calm me but to no
avail.
"It's not fair! They make each other so happy. Why can't they
just renounce their titles and be done and marry for love?"
Athos shook his head and heaved a sigh as we stood there in the
bright spring moonlight.
"The only way people of their respective rank can truly be happy
together is in death. Unless they can truly cheat death it looks
like they'll have to forge ahead with their respective
marriages."
At that moment the cogs within my sleep deprived mind came to a
plan so odd that I had to wonder my own sanity.
"What if they can? What if they both can cheat death and live
happily ever after, Olivier? Tell me, do your friends Aramis and
Porthos still keep their guard posts along the Seine?"
Athos thought for a moment and then nodded and looked at me
strangely.
"You once said that they were both quite of the romantic nature.
What if by some chance we got them to perhaps come across the
waterlogged clothes and a few other personal items our young
lovebirds are willing to spare? We both know that both Lottie
and Gee aren't the swimming kind and they're both so distraught
over their up coming nuptials that they decided to take their
own lives?"
Olivier finished the thought aloud with me and then gave me a
grin before pulling me toward him for a rather deep kiss.
"You, my dear are a genius among women."
I colored slightly at his softly spoken words and grinned.
"No, we both are. Now, all we have to do is gather some things
and find a place in which to hide them until they can be
married."
I pondered for a moment until Athos broke my silence.
"Toulon! We shall head for Toulon, I was willed an estate there
from my great uncle. It's the perfect place for them. It's
quiet, it's a small town and the property is set out in the
middle of nowhere. There must surly be a servant’s cottage on an
estate that vast. If anyone asks we can just say they're our
newly acquired help or some such thing."
I nodded as the semblance of a plan took hold and I grinned.
"That's even if they come to look for them. Lord knows that
Seine is downright hazardous this time of year after all the
spring rains."
I let out a squeal of joy as I took Olivier's face in my hands
and all but covered him in kisses.
"We shall leave at once, two days? Would that be enough time to
get everything in line and in working order?"
Athos thought and then nodded.
"More then enough, just don't give all the details away until
the day of. What should we tell our employers though? Wouldn't
they be suspicious?"
I shook my head as I thought and then came to a conclusion.
"No, we can tell them that our respective spouse's family member
has taken ill and we are needed elsewhere. They can't stop us,
we've no other relatives within the town. My father's gone with
heart failure and mother's been in the ground since I was an
infant. Yours are gone. It's like a sign from the Almighty
himself."
"Indeed, but if we are caught and found out it's social ruin for
us all."
Olivier sighed as he rested his head in hands for a moment
before I touched his arm and looked him in the eye.
"Coughing the wrong way at court is social ruin. We're doing
this to help two young lovers forge a bond that's stronger and
more fulfilling then even the highest court title could ever
offer."
Athos's face softened as he smiled before taking my hand into
his own and sighing a contented sigh.
"You're right, but I just hope they'll be as content in married
life as we are."
I arched an eyebrow at his statement and then smiled at the
downright roguish grin that had affixed itself to his face
before he took off after me and chased me playfully through the
winding garden footpaths under the full spring moon. Later that
evening after we'd said our final goodbyes and I'd found a way
back into Lottie's room I settled in and said silent prayer for
Lottie and Gee's happiness. For the first time in two weeks my
stomach was no longer in knots and I found myself able to drift
off to sleep.
#Post#: 2639--------------------------------------------------
Re: All For Love
DIR By: Wolfy
Date: April 2, 2013, 9:00 am
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HTML http://lmsherwin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/funny-gif-excited-kid-baby-happy.gif
That gif is an accurate representation of how I feel right now
after reading the first update! I am so very in love with
everything about it, especially the way in which you've written
the relationship between Maggie and Olivier; I think it's
beautiful and every couple should be as happy as those two. I
must confess that I giggled quite a bit when the poor dear
tripped and fell before him! that would have been rather
embarrassing, aha. I feel absolutely awful for poor Lottie and
Gee. I can't imagine how it must feel to have an arranged
marriage when you are already in love with another. But, the new
plan that has been hatched by their dear friends sounds quite
interesting and I cannot wait to find out how it all goes! :3
looking forward to the next bit!!!
#Post#: 2640--------------------------------------------------
Re: All For Love
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: April 3, 2013, 12:51 am
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Oh my lord that gif! *hugs you* I'm so glad you liked the first
installment! I must say that poor Maggie's a bit of a klutz in
this one, poor girl. Olivier's a bit of a Ricky to her Lucy if
you will. Although I can say that will be a small disagreement
between the two of them. I'm going to admit that when Lottie was
asking Maggie why love was such a topsy turvy emotion I bawled
like a baby. I felt so horrible for her and so guilty for
putting the poor girl through that, even though she's a
fictional character that I had to stop for a moment. I'm in the
middle of writing the second installment so never fear! *hugs
again*
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