9th Letter; video

[hisdiscretion]

[Franz is sitting in his darkened office. As usual, he casts a gentle glow across it. Though it's late at night, he seems to be drinking coffee.]

I can't believe it's only June 15th. Can wedding season be over now, please? [siiigh]I'm from a time and place that doesn't exactly value morals or good taste. I'd be the first to admit that I've grown

Comments

[showbizpanache]

[Have some sass in return. He loves weddings okay ;;] Now that's just unreasonable. Just because some Jersey Shore reject's expectations were too high doesn't mean you should condemn all weddings forever.

[hisdiscretion]

[sigh] It's not just that. She was just the last straw.

Marriage is this built-in expectation for so many people. Even if it's supposed to be something that's full of meaning, most people just get married because they'll see some gain from.

[showbizpanache]

That's true, certainly, but... Marriage for love still exists, you know, and not just in Disney films and rom-coms.

[hisdiscretion]

Love doesn't exist amidst nobility. I was lucky that I got along well with my fiancee, but she was just another girl to me. [There was no spark, not a single feeling of romantic or even sexual interest from Franz. Of course there wasn't. And she had loved him, as perhaps she was supposed to because, because he was warm and clever and a definite escape from her terrible family.] It would've made no difference if I found her presence unbearable, or her mine. A good friend of mine wound up betrothed to a very questionable man. She was afraid of him, but her father couldn't be dissuaded, and he had a tendency to lock her away when she disagreed.

I still have a hard time believing that following one's heart can end in anything but tragedy.

[showbizpanache]

[Well damn. Franz's feelings are a lot more understandable now, but...] I'm sorry all those things happened, and I respect your beliefs. I just really don't agree with them.

[hisdiscretion]

[It's clear this is painful for Franz. It brings up so much sadness, so much loss. He wonders, sometimes, if one of the reasons he's adjusted so well to Siren's Port isn't just his untimely death, but the battering his heart had taken for years before arriving. He doesn't realize he's playing with the necklace that's mostly tucked under his collar as he speaks: a little silver charm, a lock shaped like a heart.]

You wouldn't be the first to disagree. But a lot of things happen... love's nothing but trouble, when you get right down to it.

[showbizpanache]

Well now you're just being pessimistic. Don't force me to sit you down in front of Love Story. [He sees how upset Franz is, and this is his way of trying to cheer him up.]

[hisdiscretion]

I don't know what that is but it sounds terrifying. [But he is amused rather than saddened, and that's a start.]

[showbizpanache]

Excuse me? [Looks scandalized.] All right, I am renting that film and you are watching it with me. Mandatory, no excuses.

[hisdiscretion]

Okay, but in return you'll have to watch something sappy and French. No subtitles. [like that's a punishment.]

[showbizpanache]

Silly you, think I'm going to stop there. No, I plan on renting all my favorite romantic movies and forcing you to watch them.

[hisdiscretion]

Please don't tell me you'll make me watch the one with the boat sinking disaster. My old roommate already forced me through that one.

[showbizpanache]

[Crestfallen.] I love that movie...

[hisdiscretion]

I'm not much one for tragedies. I find them annoying, actually. [Or maybe they're just a bit too close to home.] No one in those movies ever acts like a regular person.

[showbizpanache]

That's the point! It's called drama.

[hisdiscretion]

My life has enough drama already, thanks.