I just read a detailed account of the Bal des Ifs and I’d never realised how funny this event was when you don’t focus on Madame de Pompadour. All I was taught at school is that it was the masquerade ball in 1745 where Louis XV first took (public) notice of la Pompadour, but what I didn’t know was that the former royal mistress had recently died so there was a vacancy so to speak, and a lot of noblewomen showed up specifically hoping to catch the King’s attention.
But he came dressed up as a shrub (a yew tree similar to the ones in the royal topiary gardens) along with seven other men in identical costumes, so no one knew for sure which one was the King. People always focus on how Madame de Pompadour recognised the royal shrub and talked to him, but what about the women who didn’t!! History is written by the winners but I want to hear about the women who doggedly danced the minuet with random shrubs hoping this one was the one. My book mentions that a determined noble lady followed a yew tree outside the room on a hunch, only to find that she had bet on the wrong shrub. This is what the shrub costumes looked like by the way, imagine stalking one all over the park of Versailles at night because you think his gait looks kingly and you are an ambitious noblewoman
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"stop shoving," levi hisses, tugging the sheets very pointedly out of your grasp. you scoff, shuffling closer to the centre of the bed that's been duly marked with a border of pillows. "or you're gonna be taking the couch, i swear -- takes me long enough to get to sleep without anything else ... interfering."
*interfering?" you mock his dramatic choice of words. "ah, because of course, i decided that the best way to spend my friday night would be to sabotage our apartment's plumbing system, flooding my room and wrecking my grandmother's crocheted quilt, all so i could get the chance to disrupt your sleep cycle?"
you can't see him since your back is facing his but you can practically hear him roll his eyes. "not saying you could control the pipe bursting, obviously, but you can control yourself from shoving the pillows over to my side."
"and doesn't that prove my point about the pillows being fucking stupid?" you quip, rolling from your side to instead lay flat on your back, staring at the ceiling of Levi's room. the dark blue walls stare right back at you.
a beat passes where you think levi might be genuinely annoyed, and you hope he isn't; as stubborn as he can be, he is technically doing you a massive favour by letting you stay.
and it can't have been an easy decision, given how you both decided not to -
"so what's the proper protocol for platonically sleeping in your roommate's bed, then?" he huffs. "there's not exactly a guide for this shit, y'know."
from your peripheral vision you see him mimic your movement from before, switching from his previous spot staring at the door to take up a supine position, grabbing one of the pillows that's nestled between you and using it to prop his head up.
now you can see, to a certain extent, how the low light from his desk lamp throws shadows on his sharp yet delicate features, the glint of his grey eyes as he tries to pretend he's not glancing at you too.
"platonic," you say quietly, and because it's not a question, he doesn't answer.
you see levi adjust his shoulders, fixing the pillow so it's more comfortable, though you could have sworn he wasn't this close to you a few moments before.
well. let's see if your hunch is right.
"it's not like we haven't been in ... y'know ... similar situations," you murmur then, committing to finally addressing the elephant in the room.
levi's breath hitches in his throat so quickly you'd swear you imagined it, but you know him too well by now. you know his tells.
he's looking directly at you now, neck angled so he can meet your gaze. the hostility has melted away, replaced by something far more vulnerable.
"we said we wouldn't do it again. the whole roommate situation -" he begins half-heartedly, sounding as though he's already given up. "it's messy."
"we did say that," you muse quietly.
"we did," he repeats.
"came to a mutual decision."
he mumbles in agreement. "saves things from getting awkward."
another beat passes, heavier this time.
"levi?"
"yeah?"
"can we get rid of these pillows now?"
one last moment of hesitation.
"fucking finally."
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Emily: “I’m really sorry Vaggie didn’t feel comfortable coming back here. If there’s anything I can do to change that-”
Charlie: “Probably not! It was kinda a sign of her endless love for me that she visited haven again at all!”
Emily: “Oh! Oh that’s nice!!”
Charlie: “Which I NEVER would have asked her to do anyway, if I’d KNOWN the truth about her history up here!”
Emily: “Right. I’m so sorry about that too, by the-”
Charlie: “I mean, I’m not the kind of girl who askes her girlfriend to go spend an afternoon sitting across from the people who ripped off her wings! And her eye! And left her slumped against a dumpster looking half dead!”
Emily: “A… dumpster?”
Charlie: “Making the woman you love relive all that without even rEALIZING it would be pretty fucked up, wouldn’t it??”
Emily: “V- very.”
Charlie: “IT HYPOTHETICALLY COULD MAKE SOMEONE FEEL KINDA TERRIBLE AFTERWARDS, DON’T YOU THINK?”
Emily: “I’m sure it did!”
Charlie: “H Y P O T H E T I C A L L Y”
Emily: “Could! I could see that, yes, if it HAD happened, that would’ve been…”
Emily: “…”
Emily: “Are you- um, is she, errr.. doing better now?”
Charlie: “SO much better she’s doing SO great these days!!!!”
IN HELL
Vaggie: (lying face down on the hotel lobby floor) “I promise I won’t stop helping you morons when she dumps me. I won’t let her dream die just because I was dumb enough to think I could be part of it.”
Angel Dust: “That’s nice toots.”
Vaggie: “Thanks.”
Angel Dust: “Not sad or stupidly gay or anythin’.”
Vaggie: “Thanks.”
Cherri Bomb: “Sad? Angie, it’s perfect!” (takes picture) “I’ve been thinking this place could use a new rug…”
Niffty: (stepping on vaggie) “Squishy!”
Husk: “Get the fuck off her.” (at vaggie) “You, get the fuck UP.”
Vaggie: “Why.”
Alastor: “Hmmm, because this is PAINFULLY pathetic to watch, even for me?”
Vaggie: “Guess I’ll be here forever then.”
Angel Dust: “Vag-GAY c’mon, ya girlfirend’s not gonna dump ya. What’s the competition even!?”
Vaggie: “There’s an angel up in heaven who's helping Charlie work towards her life long dreams as we speak, and she's taller than me, got more wings than me, not as stabby as me, and also not a mass murderer or a liar or missing an eye.”
Cherri Bomb: "Hey!"
Vaggie: "No offence to the other one-eyed ladies here, but it's different when you've got a fucked up empty eye socket."
Niffty: (sighs dreamily) "I bet losing it hurt soooo baaaaad..."
Vaggie: "Never telling my girlfriend why I'd actually lost it or how it made me look like the deranged murder angel I was, even while she tried kissing it better for me, ended up hurting way worse."
Angel Dust: “That's a point….”
Angel Dust: “...alright, so Charlie’s PROBABLY not gonna dump ya-”
Niffty: “Oh that’s a weird sound!” (giggling) (bounces on vaggie) “I think she’s dying~”
Husk: “If you fucks kill her, I’m telling her demon princess girlfriend and pouring myself a drink to go with your fucking tormented howls.”
Vaggie: (muffled) “what if she’s my ex-girlfriend”
Husk: “…I’ll pour you a fucking drink and listen to your tormented howls.”
Niffty: “ME TOO I’LL LISTEN TOO!”
Alastor: “Dear one, perhaps if you were NOT standing on her skull and compressing her WRETCHED cries into the floor, we could be hearing them already.”
Niffty: “Whoops~ Heheheeh~”
Cherri Bomb: (recording it) “Damn, that groan’s been going on for ages… Bitch has some lung capacity on her.”
Angel Dust: “Point one for Vag-gay! Probs as good eating out as ya are at HOLDING out on ya girl!!!”
Vaggie: “uuuughhh…uaauuugghhaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaahhhhrrrgh..” (whimpers)
Niffty: “Okay.” (GIGGLES) “NOW she’s dying~” (bounces)
IN HEAVEN
Charlie: “Everything’s totally fine I have NO idea why you’d even ASK!”
Emily: “You’ve spent the entire time up here staring at pictures of Vaggie on your phone?”
Charlie: “I’m allowed to look at my girlfriend!”
Emily: “While crying and sniffling into your sleeve?”
Charlie: (sobbing) (desperately patting down her jacket) “SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHICH OF MY POCKETS HAS THE HANDKERCHIEF IN IT, OKAY??”
Emily: (smiling) “I think you two are going to be just fine.”
Charlie: (BLOWS NOSE LOUDLY INTO JACKET SLEEVE, which catches on FIRE)
Emily: “…..not your clothes, though. You might need a new set of those.”
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