Posted to the Bulletin (Sir Percy forms another league)

[yousir_mesir]

A Call for Artists, Actors, and Amateurs of Both Varieties!

Lud love us, we are without a theatre troupe of any kind. The horror! The inhumanity! It must be remedied, good neighbours, for only le bon Dieu knows we need a bit more amusement in this place. I call for a company to be formed with the expressed purpose of putting on plays and other

Comments

[john_adams_1776]

John hurried to the auditions, flustered. Catching sight of Percy, he ran up to him, out of breath.

"My dear sir," John panted, "do say I haven't, that is I haven't missed much of your audition, have I? You must forgive me. I completely lost track of the time..."

[yousir_mesir]

As John Adams ran towards him, Percy regarded the man with a good-natured grin and a half bow. "Lud love you for hurrying," he chuckled, and then shook his head to relieve the man of some woe. "Not to worry, not to worry. Some thespians have come and gone, true, but you're not too late, my dear fellow."

"Besides," Percy added, fixing a bit of his cravat, "Tis monstrously easy to lose track of the time here."

[john_adams_1776]

It was especially easy to lose track of time when one was spending time with one's girlfriend, but John wasn't going to say as much. "It is indeed."

He looked disappointed that he'd missed the thespians, though. "May I ask, dear Sir Percy, who has auditioned and what you thought of their performances? Have any impressed you?"

[yousir_mesir]

Percy thought back to those who had auditioned and chuckled quietly to himself. "Ah, few auditions, my friend. Pippi auditioned. She danced and sang. Let me think..." He fiddled with his quizzing glass while he invited John to take a seat beside his previous position.

"There are a few who I have asked to join knowing previous experience. Miss Una, for one, and that fellow Kit who arrived immaculately dressed. He's a true actor, you know! Stage and all, my good fellow! A Mr. Booth, who I have been teaching the art of swordplay, so I expect he'll make a fine thespian...at least in the ways of physical drama. Let me think...ah, yes! A young girl named Rukia! She seems quite promising. A host of others as well, Mr. Adams. I'm mightily impressed." And then, as if 'suddenly remembering', Percy added, "Oh, and my wife too."

[john_adams_1776]

Nodding politely at all the names he didn't know, John smiled when Percy mentioned Rukia. "I have been spending my time unwisely if I do not know the vast majority of your cast, sir," he said, "but I would gladly speak for Miss Kuchiki. She taught me the modern form of dancing with a partner some time ago and is kind-hearted as well as talented."

Then the penny dropped. John looked astonished. "Your wife, sir? But I had understood... Well, I say, congratulations!" He wasn't quite sure how he felt about people's wives suddenly dropping in.

[yousir_mesir]

Percy nodded as John attested to the nature of Miss Rukia, and he jotted down a note within his mind to give the girl a good role. After all, John Adams' opinion of a person was highly valued and therefore should be duly followed.

After the entirety of the day had been spent acting, Percy's face finally fell when John offered his congratulations upon Marguerite's arrival. The blood drained from his countenance and his jaw tightened, and then the light that so normally shone brightly in his eyes grew dull. He collapsed within himself. "My wife has entered the Park, this is true. A few weeks back she arrived, and...and I...." He could barely speak, his hurt was so great.

[john_adams_1776]

"Good God!" John exclaimed as he caught sight of the taller man's face. "I am no gentleman with manners like these. Won't you forgive my foolishness, Percy, and tell me what is wrong, that I might assist you?" He reached up to grasp his arm.

[yousir_mesir]

Oh, so many things were wrong! Percy couldn't help himself now - he was overwhelmed and finally couldn't pretend anymore. "Please, please my dear friend, you are the truest of gentlemen, you didn't know...lord, you couldn't have know. I'm so sorry to bring this upon you, I just...oh..."

Percy, who usually stood so tall and elegant in form, was now low and stooped over in his seat. "We're estranged, John. We have been since before I arrived here, and I had hoped to find out the truth in certain...circumstances which had been brought to light, but her arrival has only brought more aloof answers and me more pain!" He cried out so suddenly that he nearly surprised himself. But where were his manners!

[john_adams_1776]

If there was one thing John knew, it was that there were no manners when it came to great passion. In his own case, it generally came down to passion over a cause rather than a person, but he'd lost his manners over it often enough. He squeezed Percy's arm in support.

"I would listen would you tell me of your estrangement," he said quietly. Sometimes being a lawyer meant being a counselor as well.

[yousir_mesir]

Percy swallowed and tried to find his voice, which lowered several octaves when he did open up his mouth to finally speak. "Oh John, the story is so long and I've been keeping so much a secret..." he admitted, sitting up and rubbing at his tired eyes. "I spoke of a league to you a long while back, it begins there."

Sir Percival Blakeney, having suffered much in just a few short hours, decided to tell John Adams his secrets if he would listen. "If you wish to hear the whole thing, my dear chap, I will tell."

[john_adams_1776]

John sat beside him and looked all his sympathy. "I would hear anything you would say, my friend. I do admit to some curiosity about this league of yours."

[yousir_mesir]

There was a lot to explain, but Percy was no slouch when it came to spinning a good yarn. He believed that his tale certainly was interesting, albeit extremely complicated. "I suppose it is best to begin by telling you that your revolution partially inspired another one to occur in France. The consequences of such a revolution I cannot fully go into, though it started out well enough by executing its so-called traitors to the newfound Republic."

Percy sighed, long and unhappily. "Men, women, even children. Some men were guilty of neglect, but most were murdered for the simple fact that they were aristos. They dissolved the Churches and ran out the priests - they killed Le Bon Dieu and drove France into war for their Republic. It only became worse and worse, and soon the streets of Paris and around the Place de la Révolution became soaked in blood."

[john_adams_1776]

With a grimace, John attended to Percy's tale. "I did and do believe in the ideals of our revolution," he explained quietly. "Liberty is finest creation of mankind and by rights belongs to everyone. But I wish - I sincerely wish - it did not take so much bloodshed to accomplish. So many lives lost in her name..." Shaking himself out of his reverie, John asked, "And what happened then, my good sir?"

[yousir_mesir]

Percy spoke very carefully next. "Mind, John, mind that while a close friend of mine is the Prince of Wales, a monarch, and that my country is the one that caused the tyranny done unto you and your nation, that revolutions do not repulse me. Revolutionaries do not frighten me. I do not balk at things like liberty and justice and equality, for I believe that everyone deserves the right to be happy. This is...was not so in Paris. The ideals are there, in every man, woman, and child, but they are led and fed lies by cold and unfeeling men of the Republic."

He stood for suddenly his frame could simply not sit still. "Greed and corruption reigns in France! Ideals? Ha! What ideals! A man will sell his neighbour's life for a sou! Nobody can speak freely anymore in Paris. If a woman dares to forget the tricolore on her frock then she is imprisoned. And then what happened, Mr. Adams? And then what happened?" He raised his cane and pointed to a far-off spot in the distance. "I went to France to see it for myself. I had been raised

[john_adams_1776]

Percy was a friend to the Prince of Wales? John was startled, but didn't react. Perhaps he was maturing, but it no longer seemed simple enough to categorize people into royalists and revolutionaries. Not when the cost of each was so high. If Percy - brave and true Sir Percy - whom he'd befriended despite shared kisses and women's clothing - could fight in his way for both, perhaps John could learn something about focusing on the needs of the people rather than what political organization was created to meet them. Did it truly matter so long as those needs were met

[yousir_mesir]

"Mr. Adams," Percy then said as he turned, smiling down upon the man with the same sort of fervor he had been exhibiting as he spoke, "I would be called a liar if I didn't admit that I admire you greatly. Have admired you, sir, for so many reasons. A great man is a great man, no matter his standing or nationality. For what I am I'll never be called brilliant, but if I could be called brave then perhaps I could one day be proudly compared with you